Penn Station scissor attack: Man slashes teen in random attack, NYPD says

Subway scissor slashing

Police said a 28-year-old man with scissors slashed a teenager on his forehead on a subway platform at Penn Station.

NEW YORK - The day after the governor and the mayor announced a plan to flood the subway system with police officers, someone slashed a teenager in Penn Station in an unprovoked attack.

A man with scissors came up to a 17-year-old boy on the northbound platform of the A/C/E line just before 4 a.m. Friday and without saying a word attacked him, the NYPD said. The attacker slashed the teen in his forehead and then ran away.

A witness identified the slasher to cops who then arrested him on the street. He is a 28-year-old man, a source told FOX 5 NY.

EMS brought the teen to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, the NYPD said. Medical staff treated and released him, according to a report.

Subway ridership plummeted at the start of the pandemic but has partially recovered. During that time, the crime rate spiked and has since fallen, adjusted for ridership. Nevertheless, some violent crimes — including several killings — have shined a light on the issue.

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Subway public safety plan

Mayor Eric Adams, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, and Gov. Kathy Hochul speak about an initiative to put more police officers and social service teams in the subway system.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams held a joint press conference on Thursday to announce new measures to improve safety in the nation's largest subway system.

Under the initiative, hundreds of additional NYPD officers will be a visible presence in and around the subway system, Hochul and Adams said on Thursday. Teams of social workers will be assigned to help homeless people and others who may need social services.

"We are going to create teams of trained professionals who will be embedded here, who will develop relationships, will develop trust, and allow us to face the issue of chronic homelessness with a plan," Hochul said.

The mayor said he wants uniformed transit cops to spend more time riding the trains so that they can respond to incidents and also be a deterrent to crime. Also, precinct patrol officers, when they aren't responding to calls above ground, will be expected to descend into subway stations within their sector to check on things, respond to incidents when needed, and connect homeless people with outreach teams, Adams said.

Newly installed Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said subway safety is a "top priority" for the department.

"This comprehensive new approach is centered on having more police officers on train cars talking with riders and listening to them," Sewell said, "because NYPD officers do not just respond to crime in our city — they prevent it and deter it."