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Man fatally stabbed on M101 bus

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | jsilverman@am-ny.com

December 24, 2007

A man who had just fatally stabbed a passenger on a city bus in the Upper East Side was arrested Sunday after a witness called in the cab the suspect used as a getaway, authorities said.

The stabbing occurred about 9:25 a.m. on a M101 bus traveling north on Third Avenue at East 96th Street. The driver and several witnesses said the suspect plunged a kitchen knife into the right thigh of a man, 40, after they got into an argument.

The suspect, 52, got out and fled in a yellow cab, but a witness noted the cab number and called 911. The cab number was broadcast to patrol cars in the area, and the taxi was soon spotted at 125th Street and Lexington.

Police pulled over the cab and took the suspect into custody.

"We take any criminal incident that occurs on board one of our subway trains or buses very seriously," said Paul J. Fleuranges, a spokesman for New York City Transit. "Our condolences go out to this man's family and friends."

The victim's name has not been released pending notification of the next of kin. He apparently bled to death on the bus, and was pronounced dead on arrival at Metropolitan Hospital.

Fleuranges said the stabbing occurred while the bus was stopped, and that the driver immediately opened the bus doors so that other passengers could flee.

More than 125 city buses have been outfitted with digital video surveillance systems that authorities hope will deter such crimes in the future. The systems will be installed in another 325 buses in the coming months. New York City Transit operates about 4,500 buses citywide.

Sunday's stabbing comes just days after the NYPD announced that subway crime had dropped to a historic low of six crimes per day citywide.

In 1990, there were 48 crimes on the subway reported everyday.