Two commuters were arrested after a dispute inside a subway station on Manhattan’s Upper West Side turned into a bloody duel, with one man slugging his opponent with spiked brass knuckles and the other hacking at his rival with a box cutter, police said.
The bloody clash comes as police try to tamp down a 9% jump in assaults on the city’s subways.
The combatants, 21-year-old Broadus Tushawn and 34-year-old Zubiru Ahamma, were arguing inside the W. 96th St. subway station when they drew weapons around 7:38 a.m., police said.
The younger man wielding the box cutter struck first, slashing his adversary in the neck and back, while the older straphanger retaliated with the brass knuckles, puncturing his rival’s hand and face. cops said.
Medics rushed both men to Mt. Sinai West, where they were taken into custody and are expected to survive.
They are charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
Tushawn lives in the Jefferson Houses in East Harlem, while Ahamma resides in the Fordham section of the Bronx, cops said.
Their arraignments were pending.
While violent crime dropped across the city over the summer, the NYPD is fighting a 9% jump in felony assaults in the city’s transit system compared to the same time frame last year.
Cops have investigated 435 assaults in transit this year through the end of August, compared to the 397 reported by that time last year. While assaults in the subways are up, random attacks are down by 8%, from 69 last year to 63 this year, police said.
Elderly people were the victims in 17% of the attacks, officials said. Cops made up another 21% of the victims.
Unprovoked felony assaults decreased by 4%, from 71 last year to 68. Those arrested for assaults are mostly repeat offenders, cops said.
Overall, major crimes in the city’s transit system have held steady, with only a less-than 1% decrease in 2026 as compared to last year, cops said.