Subway thief stabs bystander who tries to stop him, NYPD says

NEW YORK - The NYPD is looking for a thief who robbed a woman on a Manhattan subway platform and then stabbed another woman who was trying to prevent him from getting away.

Police released security camera video footage that shows the incident unfolding inside the 34th Street-Herald Square station in Midtown at about 6 o'clock on Monday evening.

A man walked up to a 33-year-old woman, knocked her cellphone out of her hand, picked it up, and then started running away, police said. That is when a bystander — a 27-year-old woman — stepped into the thief's path and tried to stop him, police said. 

"While doing so, the individual struck the second victim in the leg with an unknown sharp object causing a puncture wound," police said in a release. 

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The video shows the thief pushing past the woman who tried to stop him and starting to run away. That woman and another woman, presumably the robbery victim, chase him for a few steps, the video shows. The bystander grabs the man, who spins and breaks her grip and then flees. The video shows the bystander hopping on one leg, presumably because of her puncture wound.

Police said EMS brought her to Bellevue Hospital Center for treatment.

The robbery victim was not hurt.

Subway commuters have been dealing with a disturbing rise in crime underground. The mayor and governor responded by flooding the system with police officers earlier this year. However, some shocking acts of violence are still plaguing the nation's largest public transit system, including last week's mass shooting on a crowded subway car in Brooklyn.