Subway conductor stable after being slashed in neck at Brooklyn station
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A subway conductor was slashed in the neck when he stuck his head out of a train at a Brooklyn subway station.
Officials say the attack happened at the Rockaway Avenue and Fulton Street station at around 3:40 a.m. Thursday.
Alton Scott, 59, was on a southbound A train that was pulling into the station. Authorities say that he was slashed in the neck when he stuck his head out the window.
The conductor was taken to Brookdale University Hospital in stable condition.
Scott received 34 stitches to close his slash wound to his neck. There were 25 stitches to the deep end, and another nine sutures to help close it up.
He was later released from the hospital.
"It's crazy, I ain't going to lie. For a conductor to get stabbed in the neck, it's just crazy," one person said.
Officials say a man wearing a blue vest ran from the scene. No arrests have been made.
The NYPD has scoured through footage from the three surveillance cameras at the Rockaway Avenue station, and none are believed to have captured images of the suspect.
All three cameras in the stations are fully operational and working. Two are believed to be at the turnstiles and one on the mezzanine level.
There are no cameras on the platform at this station and none in the subway train where the stabbing occurred.
Detectives are not sure how the suspect evaded those station's cameras, but speculated he could have run into the subway tunnel.
They will now canvas cameras at both neighboring stations and above ground.
In response to the attack, the MTA said Thursday evening that cameras will be coming to conductor cars throughout the subway system.
"We are now putting cameras inside the conductor's cars," MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. "We are doing it right now to protect conductors."
NYC Transit President Richard Davey said that the MTA has had discussions with the union over the past few months to make this happen, but those negotiations were unsuccessful, and that on Thursday he ordered the cameras to be installed.
The MTA took aim at a "work stoppage charade" that impacted commutes Thursday on the A and C trains.
Meanwhile, TWU Local 100 Union President Richard Davis said: "The law is clear: our safety is in the hands of our employer. But we need better protection now, before we lose one of our own. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: statistics mean nothing until the violence stops."
"This is attempted murder. The wound on Mr. Scott's neck is too close to his carotid artery. We're at a breaking point where we can't do our jobs safely. The city is in crisis, and the target is on our backs."
"Janno Lieber's MTA police force of 1000 officers must be immediately deployed to the metro NYC area. We're facing heinous crimes and brutal assaults. Enough is enough."
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