The NYPD released surveillance video of the man who they believe slashed a Manhattan straphanger and tried to sit on his girlfriend this week.
The clip, released early Friday, shows the suspect getting off an N train at 42nd Street-Times Square before the 11 p.m. attack on Wednesday.
The incident occured on a northbound No. 2 train at West 72nd Street and Broadway when the suspect tried to sit on the girlfriend of victim Sammi Tovar, 26, cops said.
Tovar told the man to “step back from his girlfriend,” prompting the assailant to display a kitchen knife and slash him in the lower leg and hand, authorities said.
During the dust-up, the 34-year-old woman stepped in to defend her boyfriend, and sprayed the assailant with mace, according to sources and police.
Tovar told The Post Thursday his girlfriend saved his life when she jumped in with the mace.
“He showed no signs of stopping after getting my leg,” Tovar said. “He had this weird look in his eyes.”
The knife-wielding man fled at the West 72nd Street and Broadway station, and boarded a No. 1 train, cops said.
Tovar was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition with stab wounds to the leg and fingers. His girlfriend was not physically injured.
Tovar said he feels helpless about the surging crime while his girlfriend, who did not want to give her name, said she now doesn’t want to ride the train at all.
“You feel like there’s nothing you can do to change it,” Tovar said. “Like, sometimes you feel helpless, and it takes being attacked to have some voice at least temporarily.”
Police were still looking to track down the suspect Friday.
Police say he appears to be around 50 years old, about 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds with a dark complexion, medium build, brown eyes, brown hair and a grey beard.
He was last seen wearing a blue hooded jacket, black pants, a grey hooded sweatshirt and a black watch cap.
Source: New York Post
