AMNY Subway Tracker

Police arrested a man from the East Village in connection with six purse snatchings in the subway around 11 pm Tuesday night. A tipster led investigators to the man's apartment on East Ninth Street near Avenue C, police said. They identified the alleged robber as Mark McIntosh, 25. He is charged with three counts of grand larceny, three counts of robbery, and resisting arrest. The most recent robbery he is charged with occurred May 19 at the Greenpoint Avenue G station, police said. Police have not charged him with a robbery at the Rector Street subway station robbery that took place on Tuesday morning. That purse snatching is still under investigation, a department spokesman said.

McIntosh is alleged to have targeted at least six women in less than last two weeks in subway stations, mostly in downtown Manhattan.

There was another subway purse snatching Tuesday morning at the Rector Street station . The Daily News reports that the robber shoved a 24-year old woman at 9:30 a.m. and grabbed her purse.

Police are looking for a man believed responsible for at least five robberies targeting women in downtown Manhattan over the last two weeks. Police listed the robberies committed:

1. ON 5-11-08 AT APPROX 0830 ON THE "L" SUBWAY AT 14TH STREET AND 1ST AVE THE PERP APPROACHED A F/24 WHO WAS SITTING ON A PLATFORM BENCH GRABBED HER PURSE AND FLED INTO THE SUBWAY TUNNEL

2. ON 5-13-08 AT APPROX 0920 HOURS ON THE 1,9 SUBWAY AT 7TH AVE SOUTH AND CHRISTOPHER STREET THE PERP APPROACHED A F/38 GRABBED HER PURSE AND FLED INTO THE SUBWAY TUNNEL

3. ON 5-14-08 AT APPROX 0905 HOURS ON THE "L" SUBWAY AT 14TH STREET AND 3RD AVE THE PERP APPROACHED A F/30 GRABBED HER PURSE AND FLED INTO THE SUBWAY TUNNEL

4. ON 5-15-08 AT APPROX 0735 HOURS ON THE N/B #6 SUBWAY PLATFORM AT LAFAYETTE STREET AND BLEECKER STREET THE PERP APPROACHED A F/27 GRABBED HER PURSE AND FLED INTO THE SUBWAY TUNNEL

THE SUSPECT IS DESCRIBED AS A M/B 30-35 APPROX 5'9 WITH A MEDIUM BUILD

A musician said don't blame him for spooking a carriage horse in a fatal accident Friday. The Daily News reports the drummer and accompanying dance troupe didn't know about the incident when they tried to set up near horse drawn carriages a day later. Central Park personnel asked the group to relocate their show away from the horses.

Today, Smoothie the mare's owner said she may be alive if the city imposed a ban on music near horses or installed hitch posts around the park. The Horse and Carriage Association released Smoothie's rules, which also ask for better drainage around the park, more water spigots and hack stands. The group also promised better training for new drivers and a more vigorous application process.

The dangerous practice of train surfing stopped a Q train today, after a train operator saw a male rider on top of a Manhattan-bound train.
The operator of an oncoming train saw the surfer at 8:40 a.m. after the Q train left the DeKalb subway station. New York City Transit halted the train north of that station, between stops, for about 40 minutes in Brooklyn to get the rider down.
Q and N trains ran over the R line during the incident. Transit officials did not have the rider’s identity yesterday and said it was awhile since the agency saw a surfer.
“It’s happened before and usually when it happens, the person gets killed,” said Transit spokesman Charles Seaton.
The agency posts public service posters on trains, telling straphangers not to ride on the outside of trains. Daredevil teenagers have been killed in the past while attempting the dangerous feat.

Police are looking for someone who shot and killed a Bronx teen on an Astoria subway platform early today. The Daily News reports that Jose Sierra, 19, was killed on the 31st Street N station platform about 1:15 a.m. Police have no motives or suspects yet. More details to come...

An argument at a picnic turned to a young man's death and three other teens' injured by a spray of bullets on a Bronx 5 train earl this morning, according to Associated Press reports. One victim died at the scene and three others were treated at local hospitals. The victims' relatives are pleading with the public to help police find the killers.

(via the MTA)

Straphangers who ride the No. 7 line will be the first to grade Transit on how well the line is run. Transit staffers will pass out report cards, asking for grades. It's on a school grade scale, A for excellent through F for unsatisfactory. The Rider Report Card will ask riders to grade the No. 7 line in 21 areas, including car and station cleanliness, safety, security, quality of announcements and courtesy and helpfulness of customer service staff. Riders can also rank the top three improvements they want made to the line. Riders will have to mail in (for free) the report card. Starting Tuesday, riders can also complete the survey on-line in their choice of 13 languages. Results from the report card will be posted on-line once Transit compiles them.

The first report cards will be doled out from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on:
July 10 at stations between Main Street/Flushing and 90th Street/Elmhurst Avenue.
July 11 at stations between 82nd Street/Jackson Heights and 33rd Street/Rawson Street.
July 12 at stations between Queensboro Plaza to Times Square/42nd Street.

Other lines and busses also will eventually have a report card. For now, riders can grade the cleanliness of their subway stations on another blog.

--Marlene Naanes

The man who hacked a man's chest open with a power saw inside a Morningside Heights subway station last summer was sentenced to 18 years in prison today. Tareyton Williams apologized, and the victim, Michael Steinberg, while admitting he is forever damaged physically and mentally by the event, accepted. But he had no forgiveness for the TA. Steinberg said workers did not come to his rescue. They had been using the saw earlier during an installation job. The TA says the workers were actually contract employees, and that a booth clerk had called for help.

More here on the MTA's policy of not having employees leave the booth during such emergencies.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: Crime scene by Charles Eckert

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced today that three people have been charged with defacing an "L" train subway tunnel with graffiti. The release follows:

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that three alleged members of a major graffiti crew have been indicted on charges of causing more than $10,000 in damage by vandalizing one of the L line subway tunnels and emergency exits with spray paint. Two of the alleged crew members are also charged with spray painting their tags on two Long Island City buildings a month earlier.

District Attorney Brown said, "Graffiti is a symptom of criminality and negatively affects the quality of life of all citizens through decreased property values, increased taxes and a financial burden on affected businesses and homes. City officials and anti-graffiti activists have done a remarkable job over the years in cleaning up New York City’s image as a graffiti-scarred city. We cannot allow individuals to mar the beauty of our City and threaten to return us to the days when our transit system and our highways and buildings were covered with graffiti."

The District Attorney identified the defendants as Miles Wickham, 22, (a/k/a RESKEW, RSKW and RW), of 404 5th Street; Michael Baca, 22, (a/k/a 2ESAE - pronounced Too Easy), of 545 Meeker Avenue; and Raul Mendez, 35 (a/k/a DRO), of 1738 East New York Avenue, all of Brooklyn.

The three defendants, who are alleged members of ACC (which stands for All City Crew and Another Crime Committed) are variously charged in a 43-count indictment with second- and fourth-degree criminal mischief, making graffiti and third-degree criminal trespass. If convicted, each of the defendants faces up to seven years in prison.

The District Attorney said that, according to the charges, the three defendants illegally entered the "L" line subway tunnel between the Halsey and Wilson Streets station, which borders both Queens and Kings Counties, in June 2006 and videotaped themselves defacing the tunnel walls and emergency exit # 197 by spray painting their personal tags and the tag ACC. As a result, it is alleged their actions caused more than $10,000 in damage to the property. It is further alleged that, a month earlier, the defendants Baca and Mendez caused more than $500 in damage to each of two Long Island City buildings by spray painting their tags on a Pathmark Supermarket located at 42-02 Northern Boulevard and on a warehouse located at 38-30 43rd Street.

The videotape was recovered from the vehicle of one of the defendants when Wickham and Mendez were arrested in Brooklyn on July 3, 2006 on criminal mischief charges.

The three defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on May 2, 2007, in Queens County Supreme Court in Kew Gardens.

The investigation was conducted by Police Officer Paul Appleton and Sergeant Robert Colon, of the Transit Bureau Citywide Vandals Task Force, under the supervision of Captain Elwood Selover, Commanding Officer, and by Detective Anthony Navarro and Sergeant Kevin Cooper, of the Transit Bureau Special Investigations Unit, under the supervision of Lieutenant Paul Murphy, Commanding Officer.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Michael Brovner of the District Attorney’s Gang Violence and Hate Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the three cases under the supervision of Mariela Palomino Herring, Bureau Chief, and Michele E. Goldstein, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials James Clark Quinn and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorneys for Trials John H. Larsen and Robert Masters

It should be noted that an indictment is merely an accusation and that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Police are hoping a surveillance video will help track down the killer of New York City Transit security guard James Piocica, NY1 reports.

The person seen in the video may have followed Piocica, a 37-year-old former train motorman who left behind a wife and two daughters, out of a 7-11. Police are describing him as a person of interest.

There is a still a $22,000 reward for info leading to the capture and conviction of the killer.

-- Chuck Bennett

The subway chainsaw maniac pleaded guilty yesterday.

To refresh your memories, last July Tareyton Williams (pictured above) entered a the 110th Street subway station on the No. 1 line with a gorilla stuffed animal at 3 a.m. He then picked up a buzz saw lying near a construction site and randomly attacked postal worker Michael Steinberg.

The victim told the Daily News:

"There are many times I feel like I want to be a baby again because a baby is protected by its mother," said Steinberg, 64, who approved of the plea agreement. "For him to be away for 18 years is long enough for him ... to rehabilitate himself."

And, in happier, subway maniac news, an apparent suicidal homeless man tried to end it all by jumping in front of a V train in Rockefeller Center.

Here’s the Post’s account:

"He just ran from behind me and jumped in front of the moving train," said a stunned straphanger, who did not want to be identified.

"We all turned and screamed."

"[The train operator] came out of the train and said, 'I saw him but I couldn't stop.'

The man, who police believe is homeless, landed in the trough between the tracks and suffered minor injuries.

"He looked almost untouched," said a source.

"If you ever fell, God forbid, in front of a train, this would have been the best place to fall."

And on the topic, of the lifesaving subway roadbed trough, Subway Superman Wesley Autrey is back in the news – again. This time, at least, it is good news. Not like getting screwed by his attorney.

He got a new 2007 Chrysler Jeep as a reward for heroism.

-- Chuck Bennett

Mug shot of alleged subway snatcher Leroy Lawrence

Another month and another batch of statistics showing crime is down in the subway.

Crime is so low, that the arrest of a purse snatcher makes big news.

Of course, the alleged snatcher did have a novel way of committing his crime.

"He's standing between the cars and as the train is moving he reaches out and grabs a woman on the platform and takes her pocketbook," said NYPD Transit Bureau Chief James Hall. "Potentially it's very dangerous if (she) is dragged under the train."

He then allegedly made his subway getaway to the next station without breaking a sweat.

Hall said he believes [Leroy] Lawrence, 52, is responsible for three more subway robberies at the station during the past three months. Once a pattern emerged, detectives looked at the rap sheets of purse snatchers and made the connection to Lawrence, who was convicted for a similar crime at the same station in 1995, according to the Manhattan district attorney¹s office.

UPDATE - NYPD Commisioner Ray Kelly spoke about the strategy today:

It’s effective policing. We know that, you know, people who commit crimes on the subway trains often walk through the entire train and that’s one of the reasons why we watch for that and we give summonses for it. And I think you saw in the paper today that some of the people that have been issued summonses for it have extensive records of crimes, particularly robbery, in the subway system. So it’s another effective tool in our toolbox and so far it’s working well.

-- Chuck Bennett

MTA, NYPD, TWU Local 100 Announce $22,000 Joint Reward for Capture and Conviction of James Plucica’s Killer

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), New York Police Department (NYPD), and Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU) today announced a joint $22,000 reward for the capture and conviction of the murderer of transit worker James Plucica. Plucica, an MTA employee and member of TWU Local 100, was gunned down in the early hours of Sunday, March 11, while returning from his job.

“On behalf of the entire MTA family, I’d like to extend our deepest condolences to the Plucica family,” said MTA Executive Director and CEO Elliot G. Sander. “We will spare no effort to catch whoever perpetrated this terrible crime. We hope that by teaming with the TWU and NYPD we can bring justice to Jimmy’s family.”

“We are heartbroken at having lost one of our brothers in such a violent and senseless crime,” said TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint. “Our heart goes out to Jimmy’s family at their time of need. We intend to do everything possible to help find his killer, and we hope the announcement of this reward will help.”

Plucica, 37, had been with the MTA for five years, starting first as a train operator, and moving in 2003 to work in security as a property protection agent. James was returning home after his 4 p.m to midnight shift early Sunday morning when he was shot in the chest at about 1:00 am. He was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he later died.
James is survived by his wife Barbara and two daughters, Amber, age 9, and Courtney, age 13.

The $22,000 reward includes $5,000 from the MTA, $5,000 from the TWU, $10,000 from the NYPD Crimestoppers program and $2,000 from the NYC Crime Victim’s Compensation Board. Reward posters will be posted shortly in the vicinity of the crime, throughout Brooklyn and in transportation facilities leading to and from the area. Anyone with information is urged to call 800-577-TIPS (8477).

The Daily News today has more details on the subway smoking summonses slashing turned shooting.

Even after he was hacked in the head with a hunting knife, a Brooklyn cop still managed to chase his attacker across a subway platform - shooting him twice before collapsing nearby, police said yesterday.

…

Hugo Hernandez - an illegal Guatemalan immigrant who sneaked back into the U.S. after being deported for attacking six cops in New Jersey - stabbed Cruz after the cop spotted him and his pal Andy Batista smoking in the subway station about 11 p.m., police said.

Cruz told them to put out the cigarettes and ordered them to come with him so he could issue them summonses, police said.

Batista, 21, complied, handing over identification and an Army knife. But Hernandez, 22, punched Cruz without warning on the Queens-bound platform of the J train, police said.

Hernandez then pulled out a 6-inch blade and slashed Cruz across the face, police said.

All, the Tracker can say is WOW! Talk about a surly smoker. And, smoking is the third most frequent reason for a summons, according to MTA data, after jumping the turnstile and “obstruct seating.” There were 9,600 smoking summonses last year.

-- Chuck Bennett

Photo by Bfraz via Flickr circa 1975

Harking back to the “broken windows” theory, transit cops have found that folks illegally walking between subway cars are often up to no good, the Daily News found. A lot of them were even packing guns.

But, the jump from 3,600 tickets from walking between subway cars last year – up from 700 in 2005 – can’t all be explained by gun-packing criminals.

Download official NYC Transit summonses data here: Download file

And, NYC Transit finally figured out why it’s becoming tougher to beat a summons.

Last week, amNY reported:

Last year, just 3,778 people beat their summons at the Transit Adjudication Bureau, a court-like system where straphangers can argue their case before an impartial arbitrator.

In 2005, by contrast, 6,121 people won dismissals. Yet, nearly the same amount of people challenged their tickets -- 24,873 in 2005 and 23,202 in 2006.

NYC Transit spokesman now James Anyani says, “Cops are writing better tickets.” He said many people were getting off on technicalities, such as an officer forgetting to fill in the year or forgetting to check a box.

-- Chuck Bennett

A 20-year-old man was stabbed to death early this morning at the Livonia Ave. subway station, police said.

Gerlin Collando, of the East Village, got into an altercation with a group of men on the northbound platform when he was stabbed multiple times in the chest around 3 a.m.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at Brookdale Hospital.

The alleged attackers fled on a train, but police caught up with them at Sutter Avenue. Five people were taken into custody and charges are pending, Police Officer Martin Speechley, an NYPD spokesman said.

Unconfirmed news reports say the fight may have started after Collando was seen dancing with the girlfriend of an alleged attacker.

The attack comes just a day after news reports show, subway crime is again on the decline. February was on course to be the safest month for subway crime since data was first recorded 13 years ago.

Photo via Newsday

UPDATE: An 18-year-old was charged with manslaughter on Monday.

-- Chuck Bennett

Every month during committee meetings at MTA headquarters we hear that crime continues to fall in the subway. But then, every once in a while you see a story that will scare the heck out of you. The Post reports on a "wolfpack" beating of 19-year-old college student at the Rockaway Parkway station.

A group of vicious punks jumped a teen on a Brooklyn subway platform yesterday and punched and kicked him into semi-consciousness - then sauntered off with his cellphone, according to a witness.

"This s- - - is not over," one of the five attackers taunted as they left the bleeding teen lying on the outdoor platform at the Rockaway Parkway subway station in Canarsie, the witness said.

Whether it was a personal attack or not, it is scary.

-- Chuck Bennett

Next stop 34th Street: Access to the Region’s Core, a $6 billion plan to dig a two-track train tunnel between New Jersey and 34th Street is moving forward with federal transit officials expected to throw support behind the project. The feds could give as much as $3 billion. The Port Authority already committed $2 billion, New Jersey $500,000, New York $0. So, it seems pretty close. [AP via amNewYork, NY Post]

Who me? Alleged mad power saw attacker claims he doesn’t remember nearly killing a man at the W. 110th St. subway station. His victim was discharged last week but has said he is too shaken up to take the subway again anytime soon. [Daily News]

E-navigating underground: The Times compares and contrasts all the knew mass transit interactive guides found online. The big danger is none take into account the frequent service changes -- especially on weekends.  HopStop,   Trips123, and PublicRoutes are all examined. [NY Times]

MTA and MTA: The Manhattan Institute warns that the “unaccountable” Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, is now different than New York’s own Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Last week, a portion of Big Dig’s tunnel collapsed on 38-year-old Milena Del Valle crushing her to death.

“Of course, Kalikow hasn’t presided over an incident of spectacular negligence like the one that resulted in Del Valle’s death. But the MTA’s institutional structure is an invitation to trouble. At public authorities, “political independence” is just a synonym for a lack of accountability that’s awfully convenient for elected officials,” writes Nicole Gelinas.

She urges the governor and the mayor to be more hands-on. Remember, MTA Chair Peter Kalikow is telling everyone who will listen that he is sticking around for a while, no matter who the next gov is. (Although there is plenty of speculation that he’s just saying that so he doesn’t appear as a lame duck).  [City Journal]

From Brazil to Albany to Hornell to Coney Island Rail Yards: The Albany Times-Union reports that unfinished Kawasaki-Alstom-made subway cars are manufactured in Brazil to be shipped to Albany then on to an assembly plant in Hornell, Steuben Count in Western New York before going back to Brooklyn. They could be in service as early as October. [Times-Union]

MTA attracting real rats: Downtown Express reports that MTA construction sites likes the Fulton Street Transit hub are attacking rodents and a lot of complaints. And we thought the only rats the MTA attracted were mobbed-up contractors. [Downtown Express]

-- Chuck Bennett

The Upper East Side building explosion is snarling bus service. Commuters are urged to take the Lexington line subway instead. Here's the latest advisory.

-- Rolando Pujol

(Getty Images)

Checking in: Bag checks in the city subways, begun after the London bombings, are now a year old. The program is now a largely accepted, if someone stealth, fact of life. (I for one have never run into a checking station.) The NYCLU has not given up the fight against the policy. [AP via amNY]

Tubes terror plot:  The alleged master plotter of the plan to blow up Hudson tunnels had visited the U.S. at least once. [AP via amNY]

Subway saw update: The power-saw attack suspect is arraigned and is undergoing mental tests. The victim says: "If he can use that as a defense, more power to him. He tried to kill me."   [Newsday via amNY]

Another subway slashing: It happens just a day after the Morningside Heights attack. [NY Times]

Chertoff's Beantown tour:  The Homeland Security chief, who once told cities they were on their own protecting their transit systems, makes nice, takes heat in Boston. [Boston Herald] 

And even farther afield in China: The Chinese government bans construction of a subway station under a historic palace site. Goodness knows what they might have turned up in the dig. In New York, expanding the South Ferry station has turned up remarkable bits of Nieuw Amsterdam. [Xinhua]

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: AP

The victim of the subway attack says no workers at the Morningside Heights No. 1 station came to his aid as his chest was cut open by a man wielding power saws.

NYC Transit, however, says only one transit worker was at the station -- in a booth -- and that it is assumed the worker called for help. Workers are instructed not to leave the booth during such emergencies, and instead call for aid. The policy came under fire  last June after a woman was raped at a Queens subway station while a worker stayed in a booth.

It's worth noting that the workers from whom the power saws were stolen are contract employees. They were helping to install screens that will give commuters real-time information about a train's location.

-- Rolando Pujol

One of the power saws used in the attack. (Charles Eckert)

Police have the alleged mad buzzsaw attacker in custody.   

-- Chuck Bennett

Uptown buzzsaw subway massacre: Early this morning some psycho grabs two electric saws from MTA construction workers or contractors, chases passengers around 110th St. / Broadway station on the No. 1 line and stabs some poor 64-year-old man in the back. The victim is in serious condition. Worst, the man hasn’t been caught yet. [amNY]

More problems on the LIRR: A train carry electrical equipment derails in Penn Station this morning causing big headaches during the morning commute. Meanwhile, out in Smithtown a train hit a person. No info on the condition of the victim but there were delays up to 90 minutes. [Newsday via amNY]

Problem on the LIRR: Train stalls in tunnel under East River standing 1,200 passengers yesterday for an hour yesterday afternoon. [Daily News]

Counterterrorism dollars for transit: Sure, New York is getting screwed out of Homeland Security dollars -- just ask the mayor. But, the Bush Administration is expected to announce today plans to give the city an additional $10 million for transit security. [Newsday via amNY]

Summer school for all: ATU Local 1181 didn’t strike after all. And 37,000 happy kids don’t need emergency taxi trips or MetroCards to get to summer school. [Newsday via amNY]

No work on downtown transit hub: Crane operator strike halts work on downtown transit hub. [amNY]

Not a bad buy: Fitch rates the latest $475 million in MTA bonds for use in the capital plan “stable.” But, those analysts are still a little concerned:

“The MTA ended 2005 with a $1.2 billion cash surplus and is expected to have a $625 million ending balance in 2006. While better than expected real estate tax collections so far this year may indicate the 2006 surplus could come in higher than estimated, the authority reports that fare revenues, operating expenses and certain subsidy sources are tracking slightly worse than budget. In addition, there remains some uncertainty in the MTA's expense profile until a settlement is reached with the Transport Workers Union.” [BusinessWire]

-- Chuck Bennett

Strapped in: The big transit news of the day was MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow announced to stick around for another term regardless of who the next governor is. [amNY] and [Daily News]

UPDATE: Andrew Albert, the rider representative on the MTA board, called for a clarification on the Kalikow story. The Senate confirmed  Kalikow to another term on the board while Gov. Pataki appoints the chairman.

Albert also found it noteworthy that the JFK- Rail Link, a pet project of Pataki, wasn’t among Kalikow’s list of five important projects he wants to see progress on during his next term.

Vic still loves NY: The first victim of alleged subway stabber Kenny Alexis was released from the hospital yesterday. “Everyone has their stereotypes of [New York] being cold and heartless, but I've only felt warm feelings from everyone,” said Christopher McCarthy, 21. No word, though, on the conditions on the two Canadian tourists who were stabbed. [Daily News]

-- Chuck Bennett

Cyanide in the Subway: News of Al Qaeda’s aborted 2003 plot to release poison gas in the subways has got local pols again raging against Homeland Security Funding formulas. [NY1]

Subway stabber indicted: Alleged subway psycho Kenny Alexis was indicted for stabbing four people. Also, his first victim, Texas tourist Christopher McCarthy is scheduled to be released today. [AP]

Roger Rumors: Will transit union prez Roger Toussaint, a native Trinny, run for office in his home country? Rumors are flying that is in the future as he visits his birth country for a Labor Day celebration. [NY Post]

Moynihan Station and more : The latest plans for a new Penn and Moynihan Station call for FIVE office towers on the site of the current Madison Square Garden. Still no one knows who would pay the $1 billion for a new Penn. [NY Times]

Union jobs still cut: The Chief (no link available] reports that the TWU will continue cutting staff even though it just sold its union HQ for a cool $60 million.

-- Chuck Bennett

"This really was an abberation," James Hall, chief of the NYPD transit bureau, told reporters. Besides, they got a man in custody.

-- Chuck Bennett

From AP and Newsday:

“Two people were stabbed in separate incidents on the city's subway system, and two others were stabbed in a Times Square attack in a roughly 12-hour period, police said.”

Horrifying but not a trend, at least that is my take on these attacks. Crime is still down all around in the subway. Latest police figures show subway robberies down 22.5% and asssaults down 38.7% compared to last year.

Still expect these scary spate of stabbings to be a big talk at the upcoming MTA board meetings.

-- Chuck Bennett

Just one day ago, the FBI released statistics showing that New York was bucking a national surge in crime. We have indeed come a long way since the dark days of 1990, when the city recorded its most murders in a single year. But a single crime that bloody year shook the city in a way that encapsulated the sense that New York was truly out of control -- the subway murder of tourist Brian Watkins, 22.  He was in town for the U.S. Open and died because he had the nerve to defend his parents from thugs at a midtown subway station.

On Tuesday, another tourist, Christopher McCarthy, 21, of  Houston, Texas, was brutally stabbed on a subway train. It was completely random, a subway rider's worst fear --  a crazed man plunging a knife repeatedly into one's chest without cause. The assailant is at large and his victim is in critical condition.

This tragedy by no means even remotely suggests a creeping lurch back toward the horrors of Gotham, 1990. The FBI numbers are testament to that. But it does remind us that the unthinkable can and does happen in the now "cleaned-up," tourist-friendly New York.

Perhaps one of the people Brian Watkins defended so many years ago can best put words to this: His dad, the man he was fighting to protect from muggers when he was killed.

"We saw some change after our son's death," Sherwin Watkins told The New York Times last night. "The worst thing I can think of is for it to return to what it was before."

Here's Newsday and The New York Times on the story. And the photo of paramedics tending to Tuesday's victim is by Charles Eckert,  a Newsday freelancer.

-- Rolando Pujol

Subway thugs are back. Four “toughs” stoles a 45-year-old man’s wallet and then slashed him with a possible samurai sword at the 167th Street and Grand Concourse subway station yesterday at 6 p.m., the Daily News reported.

Police speculated it may have been part of a gang initiation.

The victim is reportedly in stable condition.  He’s probably the last person interested in hearing that police statistics show subway robberies and assaults are continuing to drop. There were 313 robberies between January and April this year down from 404 during the same time last year. Assaults dropped to 57 from 93 during the same period.

And an editorial in the NY Post, predictably cheered that Wayne Wiggins, the infamous sleeping $77,000 a year token clerk, was finally let go.

-- Chuck Bennett

Back in April we pointed out that it was funny the MTA hired white-show law firm Proskauer Rose to represent it in its legal proceedings against the transit union. After all, the authority has 400 salaried lawyers on staff.

In today’s Daily News, we see just how pricey Proskauer Rose was: $540 an hour in some instances or a partial total of $560,000 from November to January -- not even counting Neil Abramson’s performance in front of Judge Theodore Jones.

BTW-- very old pic of Abramson on firm’s Web site.

“They are considered, to my knowledge, to be one of the best in the country in what they do as far as labor law,” says MTA spokesman Tom Kelly.

The News also has a story about getting your iPod and other personal electronics “etched” by the cops for easy identification in the event of theft. Apparently, transit cops have set up tables in various stations to emboss your iPod with invisible ink only seen with infrared light.

Call the transit police at  (718) 243-8658 for more information on the good kind of etching.

-- Chuck Bennett

The New York Post took a look at subway pervs in today’s paper.

I don’t know why they spoke to MTA police, because it is the NYPD that patrol the subways, but anyway, their stats show complaints about public lewdness reached 170 in 2005 up from 149 in 2003.

Which begs the question, as the subways become more and more safe, does that attract more pervs?

-- Chuck Bennett

The New York Post  has two subway-related crime stories.

A 24-year-old “acid” tagger was busted by cops in Bensonhurst.

“He's known to us as the worst of the worst vandals, and he has a lot of newly painted graffiti across the city,” according to Sgt. James Gueric.

The MTA is studying how to stop the “scourge” of acid etching on the subway.

Also, a “groper” on the No. 6 train was busted for harassing a poor woman between 125th St. and 86th St. yesterday.

At least, New York City isn’t so bad we need pink-stickered “women only” trains to thwart the pervs like in Rio De Janeiro. The Tokyo subway is also  notorious for gropers.

-- Chuck Bennett

What bothers me about the evening subway stabbing of a pregnant women and her boyfriend yesterday is nobody -- I mean nobody --- bothered to help the couple, according to news reports. “Panicked straphangers fled to the other end of the car,” the NY Post reported. The victims themselve chased the stabber out of the station.

Why does it take something on the scale of a terror attack for New Yorkers to have the common decency to help their fellow man?

It all started with a “staring contest.” My mother always warned me never to make eye contact in the subway.

BTW -- There were 22 assaults in the subway in the first two months on the year, according to MTA statistics. More crime stats will be released next week at the MTA board meeting.

-- Chuck Bennett

Transit cops are serious about preventing the rash of iPod thefts on the subway from driving up their low crime statistics. Last summer cops blamed iPod bandits for a spike in crime.

There are new NYPD ads in the subway reading “Earphones are a give away. Protect your device” accompanied with a drawing of a good old-fashioned earphone set not the white iPod ear buds.

In 2005 there were 1,097 robberies in the subway, up from 1,083 in 2004. But still a lot better than 1997 when there were 2,216 robberies and average of 17 felonies committed a day.

CLARIFICATION: A reader -- and then my amNY co-workers -- pointed out that a lot of those signs have been around for a while.

-- Chuck Bennett

Cops and transit officials are crediting all those new anti-terror surveillance cameras with a drop in subway crime.

Subway felonies in 2006 are down 37% compared to last year, according to police statistics reported in the Daily News. Officials credited all the new security cameras for the drop -- there will be more than 4,300 by 2007.

In all there were 318 felonies between New Year’s Day and Feb. 19 compared to 510 during the same seven weeks last year.

So far in 2006 there has been one reported murder in the subway.

On Jan. 24, Armando Castillo-Vasquez, 22-year-old aspiring DJ, was found knifed to death on the N train in Coney Island.

More subway crime stats will be released Monday at the MTA Transit committee meeting.

-- Chuck Bennett