Good Samaritan shown on CCTV jumping on knifeman to stop him stabbing woman on New York subway

Sean Conaboy was waiting for a train on a platform when he saw a man with a knife

A Good Samaritan jumped to the rescue of a woman who was slashed by a knife-weilding assailant in a New York City subway station.

Sean Conaboy was waiting for a train on a platform in Manhattan’s 14th Street-Union Square station when he saw a man with a knife attack a Brooklyn woman near him.

Without hesitation, he pounced on the man stopping him mid-attack, pinning him attacker to the ground, and almost certainly saving the woman’s life, ABC 7 reports. She was stabbed multiple times in the back and chest.

The incident on Wednesday is the latest in a spate of similar attacks, and was captured on CCTV.

The surveillance footage shows the attacker holding a large knife walking across the platform towards the woman.

“I was looking at the track, she’s the nearest person to the edge of that platform,” Mr Conaboy told Eyewitness News.

“I noticed her. And suddenly she got yanked backward and screamed, and this dagger or knife very quickly appeared and made an arching sweeping turn. I knew someone was being attacked.”

Police arrested Joshua Nazario, 22 over the attack on the 54-year-old woman.

“I heard a woman scream, and so that’s enough for me,” Mr Conaboy said. “I just jumped him, I just tackled him, jumped on his back. And that took us down to the platform surface.”

Mr Conaboy realised at the time that he had put himself in danger: “I’m trying desperately to keep him down, facedown because I know that if he gets up, or if he can turn on me, and he has that knife now, I’m a potential victim.”

Seeing the commotion, other New Yorkers piled on top, pinning the man’s legs and arms down. In the struggle, the knife slipped from his grip and fell onto the subway tracks.

Police then arrived on the scene and arrested Mr Nazario, charging him with four counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

As increasing numbers of passengers have returned to New York’s subway system in the wake of the pandemic, in recent weeks there has been a series of random attacks on trains and in stations.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to take action to ensure the spike in subway attacks is dealt with and to restore faith in the safety of the system as the city rebounds from Covid-19.

He said recently that “recovery equals public safety” and “public safety equals recovery”.

Mr Conaboy notes that with attacks such as this your best defence is not to be there, but adds that people all have jobs, homes, and other places to go.

“If New York is going to reopen and expect people to go out to restaurants and theatres, you can’t have this happen,” he says.

Sarah Feinberg, the city’s interim head of transit, said in a statement: “This unprovoked attack is both senseless and deeply disturbing — and another reminder of why additional uniformed police officers and mental health services are needed in the transit system to both increase security and to ensure the safety of riders and transit workers.”

“We are deeply grateful for the generous acts of each of the Good Samaritans who jumped to this victim’s aid last night, at significant risk to themselves.”