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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/n...=1150257600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
June 14, 2006
Stranger Stabs Texas Tourist on New York Subway
By KAREEM FAHIM and AL BAKER
Without apparent provocation, a man sitting in a subway car on the Upper West Side yesterday afternoon suddenly stood up, crossed the aisle and repeatedly thrust a knife into the chest of a 21-year-old tourist from Texas riding with a female friend, critically injuring him, the police said.
The tourist, identified by law enforcement officials as Christopher McCarthy, apparently thought at first that he had been punched, the police said, until he realized he was bleeding. By that time, his assailant had left the train at 110th Street and Central Park West. The train, a southbound C, continued to the next station, 103rd Street, before the authorities stopped it. An ambulance then took Mr. McCarthy to a hospital.
Witnesses said that the attacker and the victim exchanged no words before the man suddenly lashed out and that the attack did not appear to be part of a robbery. At least four others were in the car at the time, the police said.
The crime its violent details, its setting in a subway car in the daytime and its tourist victim recalled a notorious New York City killing, the murder of Brian Watkins, a visitor from Utah, by a robber in 1990.
Mr. McCarthy, of Houston, was in critical condition last night at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center on West 114th Street, where he underwent surgery after being stabbed multiple times in the left side of his chest, the police said.
His attacker was described as a black man in his 20's about 5 feet 5 inches tall, dressed all in black and wearing a baseball cap. He was still at large last night.
"It seemed totally unprovoked," said one investigator, who was granted anonymity because the investigation was in its early stages. "As far as we know now, he walks up, makes a motion that's he's going to hit him. He's got the thing in his hand. He cuts him. And then he leaves."
The man's escape prompted a police dragnet, as officers with flashlights poured into subway tunnels, while others in helicopters scoured the north end of Central Park and the Morningside Heights neighborhood.
The search of the tunnels turned up nothing, the police said, and the investigator said there were no surveillance cameras on the train or on the platform at 110th Street. Late yesterday, the police had not yet recovered any weapon.
The attack occurred shortly before 4 p.m., on the last car of the C train as it pulled into the station at 110th Street, the police said.
Mr. McCarthy and his companion, 20, who is also from Houston, had been on vacation, law enforcement officials said. They got on the train at 135th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, but it was not immediately clear where they had been coming from.
They sat in the middle of the car, opposite the attacker, the investigator said. The police could not say when the attacker got on the train, but said there were no words between him and Mr. McCarthy before the man got up and, with a punching motion, slammed his fist into the 21-year-old's chest repeatedly.
At first, Mr. McCarthy thought he had been punched, in an attack that occurred so quickly that witnesses thought the same thing, the police said. It was not until Mr. McCarthy began to bleed that he and the other passengers realized what had happened. By then, the attacker was gone, and the train was approaching the next stop.
The investigator said: "It is one of those things where there is a lot of 'We don't know' because there is no real incident. It's not like it was a confrontation or something. It just happened."
Mr. McCarthy's relatives in Houston could not be reached for comment. The authorities said he and his companion had been staying with friends in Connecticut and had come into the city for a day trip.
Although violent subway crime is far less frequent than in years past, it still strikes a raw nerve among New Yorkers and many visitors.
In September 1990, Mr. Watkins, a 22-year-old former tennis instructor from Provo, Utah, who had come to New York to see the U.S. Open, was fatally stabbed in a Midtown subway station as he tried to defend his family from a gang that had robbed his father and attacked his mother.
His parents, Sherwin and Karen Watkins, have spent the 16 years since their son's murder as forceful advocates for crime reduction.
"We saw some change after our son's death," Mr. Watkins said in a telephone interview last night. "I think it's continued. "The worst thing I can think of is for it to return to what it was before."
Reporting for this article was contributed by Sarah Garland, Kate Hammer, Jennifer 8. Lee and Matthew Sweeney.
June 14, 2006
Stranger Stabs Texas Tourist on New York Subway
By KAREEM FAHIM and AL BAKER
Without apparent provocation, a man sitting in a subway car on the Upper West Side yesterday afternoon suddenly stood up, crossed the aisle and repeatedly thrust a knife into the chest of a 21-year-old tourist from Texas riding with a female friend, critically injuring him, the police said.
The tourist, identified by law enforcement officials as Christopher McCarthy, apparently thought at first that he had been punched, the police said, until he realized he was bleeding. By that time, his assailant had left the train at 110th Street and Central Park West. The train, a southbound C, continued to the next station, 103rd Street, before the authorities stopped it. An ambulance then took Mr. McCarthy to a hospital.
Witnesses said that the attacker and the victim exchanged no words before the man suddenly lashed out and that the attack did not appear to be part of a robbery. At least four others were in the car at the time, the police said.
The crime its violent details, its setting in a subway car in the daytime and its tourist victim recalled a notorious New York City killing, the murder of Brian Watkins, a visitor from Utah, by a robber in 1990.
Mr. McCarthy, of Houston, was in critical condition last night at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center on West 114th Street, where he underwent surgery after being stabbed multiple times in the left side of his chest, the police said.
His attacker was described as a black man in his 20's about 5 feet 5 inches tall, dressed all in black and wearing a baseball cap. He was still at large last night.
"It seemed totally unprovoked," said one investigator, who was granted anonymity because the investigation was in its early stages. "As far as we know now, he walks up, makes a motion that's he's going to hit him. He's got the thing in his hand. He cuts him. And then he leaves."
The man's escape prompted a police dragnet, as officers with flashlights poured into subway tunnels, while others in helicopters scoured the north end of Central Park and the Morningside Heights neighborhood.
The search of the tunnels turned up nothing, the police said, and the investigator said there were no surveillance cameras on the train or on the platform at 110th Street. Late yesterday, the police had not yet recovered any weapon.
The attack occurred shortly before 4 p.m., on the last car of the C train as it pulled into the station at 110th Street, the police said.
Mr. McCarthy and his companion, 20, who is also from Houston, had been on vacation, law enforcement officials said. They got on the train at 135th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, but it was not immediately clear where they had been coming from.
They sat in the middle of the car, opposite the attacker, the investigator said. The police could not say when the attacker got on the train, but said there were no words between him and Mr. McCarthy before the man got up and, with a punching motion, slammed his fist into the 21-year-old's chest repeatedly.
At first, Mr. McCarthy thought he had been punched, in an attack that occurred so quickly that witnesses thought the same thing, the police said. It was not until Mr. McCarthy began to bleed that he and the other passengers realized what had happened. By then, the attacker was gone, and the train was approaching the next stop.
The investigator said: "It is one of those things where there is a lot of 'We don't know' because there is no real incident. It's not like it was a confrontation or something. It just happened."
Mr. McCarthy's relatives in Houston could not be reached for comment. The authorities said he and his companion had been staying with friends in Connecticut and had come into the city for a day trip.
Although violent subway crime is far less frequent than in years past, it still strikes a raw nerve among New Yorkers and many visitors.
In September 1990, Mr. Watkins, a 22-year-old former tennis instructor from Provo, Utah, who had come to New York to see the U.S. Open, was fatally stabbed in a Midtown subway station as he tried to defend his family from a gang that had robbed his father and attacked his mother.
His parents, Sherwin and Karen Watkins, have spent the 16 years since their son's murder as forceful advocates for crime reduction.
"We saw some change after our son's death," Mr. Watkins said in a telephone interview last night. "I think it's continued. "The worst thing I can think of is for it to return to what it was before."
Reporting for this article was contributed by Sarah Garland, Kate Hammer, Jennifer 8. Lee and Matthew Sweeney.
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