Brooklyn Strafunger, whose faces are randomly sliced by a stranger on his way to work, is angry at becoming an even more random victim on the rails.
Earlton Massenberg Jr. spoke of his fear to the Post, recalling how he nodded when he woke up to the burning pain in his face last Sunday.
“I saw this guy when I opened my eyes, and he had something sharp in his hand, and he was like he just cut me,” said 31-year-old Massenberg of the bloody 9am ambush on four trains on his way to work on Staten Island as an Amazon delivery man.
“I didn't go crazy, I didn't panic – I was mad,” he said. “I think it's crazy considering we have more cameras and police around.”
He opened his eyes and he got a glimpse of the attacker bolting from a train at Crown Heights-Utica Avenue Station.
“It was very fast, but I saw him have something sharp. It had to be like a razor or something,” he recalls.
He didn't know how badly he was injured until after warning officers.
Gash extends from his hairline, past his right cheek to his lips. He couldn't count all the stitches when asked in the post.
“It's on the horizon across my cheeks, like the whole cheek.”
Felony assaults like Massenberg have fallen by 6% in transit in the first two months of the year – from 117 to 101.
However, according to NYPD data, it was an 8% increase from 95 to 103 compared to the same period in 2019, reaching an astounding 56% (66 to 103).
Mistakes (less serious injuries but can include punches, pushes and kicks) have risen 7% from 274 to 293 in the entire system so far this year. One misdemeanor attack caused a man to be punched after an innocent knee bulging on a tied train in Manhattan on a November morning commute.
The horrifying attack in Masenburg has been one of several attacks since February 10, since two Strafangers were cut in separate incidents in Manhattan and Brooklyn, officers said. Another Strafunger was randomly punched and stopped at Queens on a train near the Jamaica Centre on February 16th at about 3:15pm.
A 38-year-old man was beaten and taken away by the system on Wednesday. A mob of six thieves sued him in the center of Canal Street N/Q/R station and ran off in his wallet at 4:30am.
A few hours ago, a 32-year-old man was standing on the J-Train platform on Fulton Street Alabama Avenue in Brownsville. A stranger accidentally bumped into him, began shaking “sharp objects” and mutilating the victim with his head and fingers.
In response to a famous crime, including a woman who was fatally burned on an Idling F train at Coney Island Stillwell Avenue Station, Police Commissioner Jessica Tish has overflowed officers with the system and created a quality of life patrol to crack down on minor violations.
So far, patrols have been in Queens, but the NYPD plans to expand them throughout the city. Overall crime on the subway has dropped by 27% so far this year, police data shows.
Masenburg attackers remain loose.
He returns to work the next day and continues his two-hour commute.
“I'm still pretty upset about it, but I'm not just holding it in my heart,” he said. “I have a lot more to deal with and do.”
