NEW YORK – New surveillance video revealed the latest stabbing inside the New York City subway, but this time, Good Samaritans did not turn a blind eye and intervene to prevent a catastrophic outcome.
In what was at least the fourth attack on the Union Square subway station in just a week, video shows a man walking across the platform heading south on the N / Q / R / W line just after 10 a.m. pm on Wednesday. Suddenly, the man pounced on a 54-year-old woman dressed in black, police said, stabbing her in the collarbone and the back of the shoulder multiple times.
In the video, a Good Samaritan, Sean Conaboy, can be seen without losing sight of the attacker who led the attack. Moments later, the attack occurs and Conaboy immediately intervenes to help the woman.
“I noticed one person acting a little suspicious,” Conaboy told our sister network NBC New York. “(The victim) was pushed back, she screamed. And then an arm and a hand came out with a pretty long blade, maybe 5 inches, a dagger and it did an arched sweeping motion.”
Conaboy says that natural instinct led him to run up to the attacker and attack him. Other subway passengers also helped, holding the suspect’s ankles and feet until police arrived.
“Time slowed down and I thought why don’t they stab me? I was completely vulnerable,” he said. “I was able to work my forearm under his throat and pulled his hair back to keep him from biting me because he was trying to bite my arm.”
The transit center is also home to a NYPD substation, and Conaboy listened when police arrived.
The victim is now home recovering and the suspect under arrest. The name of the suspect and the charges he faces were not immediately released. Meanwhile, Conaboy is happy to have gotten out alive and thought about everything that happened so quickly.
“I spent some time thinking about it and I woke up in the morning and thought about it again and said I was lucky to be alive after that,” he said.
The MTA released a statement Thursday night saying it was grateful for the actions of good Samaritans like Conaboy and others who helped to hold the suspect. They also said the incident is a reminder of why more officers and mental health professionals are needed on the subway.
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