A 37-year-old man was charged Tuesday with slashing someone on a No. 3 train in Brooklyn, authorities said, the seventh slashing attack in the subways this year as NYPD officials have stepped up patrols in stations.
Stephen Brathwaite was held in liue of $2,500 bail during his arraignment on Tuesday morning. Brathwaite was charged with several offenses, including second-degree assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and menacing.
Police said Brathwaite first approached the 30-year-old victim while both men were waiting for a northbound No. 3 train at about 12:40 p.m. on Monday at Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York.
“Want to fight?” Brathwaite then allegedly asked after he poured coffee on the man’s back, police said.
But as both men got on the train, Brathwaite was then accused of pulling out a knife and lunging at the man, cutting the victim’s chin.
Brathwaite was arrested as the train got to Utica Avenue, police said, and the knife was recovered.
Attorney information for Brathwaite was not immediately available.
Brathwaite has several prior arrests, including one for criminal possession of a weapon in 2010, where he apparently had an ice pick, authorities said.
This attack is the seventh slashing in the subway system this year. The NYPD has stepped up patrols in subway stations, reinforcing its transit cops with precinct officers, police officials said Monday.
