Subway conductor slashed in neck in Brooklyn amid uptick in transit violence

A subway conductor was taken to a hospital after being slashed in the neck in an apparently random Brooklyn attack today, the latest in a series of violent incidents plaguing the transit system in recent weeks, authorities say.

Police swarmed the Rockaway Avenue subway station, on the C line, after getting a 911 call about the 3:40 a.m. attack. Investigators say he was on the job at the time, performing his duties on a southbound C train. He stuck his head out of the conductor’s cab, and got slashed by an unknown individual, authorities say.

The slasher ran off.

The conductor was treated for his injuries at the hospital and later released. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information on the attack is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

The slashing comes on the heels of new orange stanchions debuted this week to protect the front cabs amid a spike in violence that has seen three homicides in recent weeks. Over the weekend, a woman was followed off a train by a man police say tried to rape her in the subway station. He’s still on the loose.

MTA officials, who have condemned the violence, are expected to hold a news briefing on the latest incident later Thursday. Earlier, they couldn’t say whether a severe slowdown on the A and C lines over train crew availability was related.

Recent NYPD data paints a concerning picture, with 2023 seeing the highest number of subway assaults since at least 1996. Over that year, there were 570 assaults, marking a slight increase from the previous year and averaging about 1.5 incidents daily.

But NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said “progress” is being made. An infusion of 1,000 more officers into the subway system — done in a direct response to a January crime spike — led to a 17% reduction in crime in February (though for the year, it’s still up 13% compared to 2023), Kemper said.

He went on to call the high-profile killings “isolated incidents.”