An teen with a 12-inch kitchen knife turned a Manhattan straphanger’s morning commute into the ride from hell.
The still-shaken survivor of the early Friday stabbing spree aboard a downtown No. 4 train detailed the gory fight for his life as one of the assailant’s partners-in-crime urged the knife-wielding suspect to “keep doing it” once the attack began.
“I started defending myself,” said the 44-year-old man, who asked for anonymity Saturday as he spoke to a Daily News reporter from his Manhattan home.
“I tried to avoid being stabbed … I was going to work. As soon as I got off the train, I noticed all the blood in my hands and (on) my face.”
The man, with stitches visible beneath a purple welt on his cheek and a left eye swollen shut, said the attacker and his sidekick came at him when the train entered the Union Square station around 4:30 a.m. Friday — and then fled the train in the same location.
When the man with the blade approached, the victim, who was heading to his retail job, recalled putting his phone into a rear pocket and bracing for the attack.
The pair never tried to rob him, the victim said — apparently satisfied to just attack the innocent stranger. Three other riders on the No. 4 train were subsequently assaulted as the subway rolled toward City Hall, with two stabbed and one sucker-punched.
A fifth victim was stabbed in his eye during the rampage while inside a train at Columbus Circle.
The suspects were still riding the subway when arrested seven hours later at the W. 79th St. station. The victim said he was unsure why the attacker picked him out, suggesting it was perhaps some kind of initiation or violent game.
“I’m just trying to get over this,” he said. “I don’t want to think about this anymore … This is not going to change me.”
