An unassuming stranger threatened two women on a Manhattan subway train and pointed a box cutter at a good Samaritan who barged in, yelling, “I’m going to cut you,” sources said.
Diego Morales, 37, who has 16 previous busts, boarded the No. 1 train downtown at the 137th Street City College Station around 2 p.m. Saturday and attacked two women who were already on board. He reportedly pulled one person’s hair. For law enforcement personnel.
That’s when a 50-year-old bystander intervened and told Morales to stop, police said.
The older man tried to sit down again, but Morales then approached him and threatened him with “yo te corto ahora,” which means “I’ll cut you right now,” in Spanish.
Police and officials said the victim waited for Morales to turn away when the train door opened at the 103rd Street station, but then pushed Morales out of the car, causing him to fall and face the ground. It is said that he was hit by
Police said the Samaritans acted quickly and held the injured man to the ground until police arrived.
Morales was handcuffed at the scene and charged with menacing and weapons possession, police said. Officials said he was hospitalized with cuts to his face.
Officials said his previous arrests included charges such as weapons possession, threatening a police officer and trespassing.
In his last arrest on the Upper West Side on July 7, he allegedly brandished a box cutter knife in the victim’s direction while claiming to be taking a photo of himself, officials said.
Sources said that back in November 2022, Morales was harassing people on the street when a man caught his attention and told him to “stand back and stay away from him.” .
But instead of complying, Morales allegedly pulled out a knife and scraped the ground in an attempt to intimidate the victim.
He was also arrested in 2019 on suspicion of attempting to hit a police officer with a metal wrench after a police officer removed his shoes for disorderly conduct at a Manhattan subway station, officials said.
Officials say he was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of grand theft from an Upper West Side store.
In 2017, he allegedly snatched a woman’s cellphone out of her hand because he was jealous of her trying to talk to friends or go out, according to sources.
The man then allegedly grabbed the scarf around her neck and strangled her.
According to sources, he was also arrested in 2016 on suspicion of possessing a knife.
The crime comes amid a recent spate of violent attacks on transit, including a fatal shooting on a crowded train in Brooklyn last month.
Last week, an innocent straphanger was allegedly thrown in front of a train in Harlem by a 24-year-old Bronx man with a history of mental illness.
