Two men slashed each other during a bloody clash on a Grand Central Station subway platform early Tuesday, officials said.
The 1 a.m. attack came about 12 hours after Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that 200 more cops will be assigned to the subway system to curb the perception that crime is running rampant on the rails.
Rafael Santiago, 30, and Jason Cheatham, 50, were on the 4/5/6 uptown platform at the Midtown Manhattan transit hub when they started to argue, cops were told.
A moment later, each pulled out blades and lunged, slashing each other in the arms.
Responding officers broke up the fight and took both men into custody.
Cheatham was treated at the scene, cops said. Santiago was taken to Bellevue Hospital with a deep gash to his left arm. He is expected to recover.
Both men were charged with assault and live in the Bronx, police said.
The NYPD saw a 5% drop in major crime in the subway system last year compared with 2023. But the city has been rocked by a string of high-profile crimes in the subway recently, most notably the homeless woman fatally burned alive on a Coney Island train last month.
The additional cops will help combat the perception that commuters aren’t safe at city subway stops. The officers will be assigned to ride the trains and patrol the platforms — the two places where 78% of subway crime occurs, officials said.
“We still must do more because people don’t feel safe in our subways,” Tisch said at a press conference at NYPD Headquarters Monday.
