An MTA subway operator is “fighting for his life” after being stabbed multiple times by a repeat traffic offender in Brooklyn Tuesday morning, union officials announced.
Mylan Pollack, 60, a soon-to-be retiree, was stabbed in the stomach and leg just before 11 a.m. during an argument with a man who refused to get off the train at the Crown Heights-Utica Avenue stop, police said.
Police say the 31-year MTA veteran was trying to clean his vehicle when he got into an argument with a passenger, who followed him onto the southbound platform of Platform 4 and stabbed him twice.
MTA Security Director Michael Kemper said officers already on the premises intervened while the 27-year-old assailant was still on top of Pollack.
Police arrested the train driver's alleged attacker, Jonathan Davalos, and charged him with attempted murder, assault and intimidation.
Kemper said Davalos has an extensive criminal history.
Davalos was previously convicted of assaulting an MTA operator and slashing a customer, charges for which he was released in February, MTA officials said. He added that he was using it for the purpose of
“We have to find a way to get people like this perpetrator out of our public spaces and subways so they can continue to attack people again and again,” MTA CEO Jano Lieber said Tuesday. “We can prevent them from attacking us,” he said.
“While crime is down, recidivism disproportionately impacts New Yorkers.”
TWU Local 100 President Richard Davis said the victim was planning to submit his resignation soon but was “fighting for his life” after being taken to Kings County Hospital.
“This has to stop. Policies have to change. Lawmakers have to change. Transportation policy has to change,” Davis said.
“Our members come to work every day with no blood on their hands, no blood on their shirts, and go home with no blood on their bodies. That's not right. That's not right. Politicians, transit agencies, judges, these people… “You can't keep letting people out of prison. It's a continuous cycle,” he said.
Tuesday's underground violence New York City Police Department announced Traffic crime decreased by 8.7% in September.
Officials said progress had been made, noting that traffic crimes had fallen by 12% compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, but said there were still many crimes committed by repeat offenders.
“We challenge the criminal justice system to address this challenge,” Lieber said.
“We must find ways for our criminal justice system to protect New Yorkers, especially transit users, from those who repeatedly seek to harm them.”
Officials said Pollack remained in critical condition after undergoing surgery.
