Article
Jul 6, 7:20 PM EDT
Police: Stranger wielding power saws attacks man in NYC subway
By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- A man wielding a cordless power saw in each hand rampaged through a Manhattan subway station early Thursday, using one of the buzzing blades to carve into the chest of a postal worker who later said it felt like "he was trying to cut through me."
Police arrested Tareyton Williams, 33, of the Bronx, on attempted murder and other charges about two hours later after they said he punched someone in another random attack on the street on the Upper West Side.
The subway victim, Michael Steinberg, 64, was hospitalized in stable condition. Speaking by telephone to reporters who gathered outside the hospital, he said the attack was unprovoked.
The assailant "never spoke," Steinberg said. "I think he was out of his mind."
Steinberg claimed that though the man "just kept stabbing me and stabbing me and stabbing me" workers there made no attempt to intervene.
A New York City Transit spokesman, Paul Fleuranges, said a token booth clerk who witnessed the attack immediately notified authorities. The other workers at the scene were employed by a private contractor, not the city, he said.
"The employee we had there did what she was supposed to do," he said.
The incident began at about 3:30 a.m. when the attacker snatched the two saws from a cart being used by workers upgrading the public address system at the station, located at West 110th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
He took a swipe at one rider on a platform and missed, police said, and then moments later he assaulted Steinberg just as the victim was about to pass through a turnstile.
"He looked at me and before I knew it he was attacking me," Steinberg said. "The motor kept going on. He was trying to cut through me. ... I screamed for help - 'Please help! Please help me!'"
Steinberg said the attacker finally paused to demand money, then bolted out of the station with his wallet and the power tools. The saws were later found ditched in a trash can on West 110th Street.
Williams was in police custody Thursday evening and was unavailable for comment. There was no telephone listing for him at the home address provided by police.
The attack came two weeks after a Boston man was charged with injuring four people - three of them tourists - during a 13-hour stabbing spree in the subway and the theater district in Manhattan.
Edit: Also on CNN Video
Jul 6, 7:20 PM EDT
Police: Stranger wielding power saws attacks man in NYC subway
By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- A man wielding a cordless power saw in each hand rampaged through a Manhattan subway station early Thursday, using one of the buzzing blades to carve into the chest of a postal worker who later said it felt like "he was trying to cut through me."
Police arrested Tareyton Williams, 33, of the Bronx, on attempted murder and other charges about two hours later after they said he punched someone in another random attack on the street on the Upper West Side.
The subway victim, Michael Steinberg, 64, was hospitalized in stable condition. Speaking by telephone to reporters who gathered outside the hospital, he said the attack was unprovoked.
The assailant "never spoke," Steinberg said. "I think he was out of his mind."
Steinberg claimed that though the man "just kept stabbing me and stabbing me and stabbing me" workers there made no attempt to intervene.
A New York City Transit spokesman, Paul Fleuranges, said a token booth clerk who witnessed the attack immediately notified authorities. The other workers at the scene were employed by a private contractor, not the city, he said.
"The employee we had there did what she was supposed to do," he said.
The incident began at about 3:30 a.m. when the attacker snatched the two saws from a cart being used by workers upgrading the public address system at the station, located at West 110th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
He took a swipe at one rider on a platform and missed, police said, and then moments later he assaulted Steinberg just as the victim was about to pass through a turnstile.
"He looked at me and before I knew it he was attacking me," Steinberg said. "The motor kept going on. He was trying to cut through me. ... I screamed for help - 'Please help! Please help me!'"
Steinberg said the attacker finally paused to demand money, then bolted out of the station with his wallet and the power tools. The saws were later found ditched in a trash can on West 110th Street.
Williams was in police custody Thursday evening and was unavailable for comment. There was no telephone listing for him at the home address provided by police.
The attack came two weeks after a Boston man was charged with injuring four people - three of them tourists - during a 13-hour stabbing spree in the subway and the theater district in Manhattan.
Edit: Also on CNN Video
