A 50-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was in moderate condition Friday morning after being violently assaulted in a Manhattan subway, according to the New York Daily News.
The haredi man, who reportedly only speaks Yiddish, was stabbed multiple times on the face, neck, chest and hands while waiting at the Bleecker St. metro station in what police are saying was a violent robbery.The assailant, an African-American man sporting dreadlocks and brown jacket, fled the scene of the incident with an undisclosed amount of money. The incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. local time, the police added.
Police have opened an investigation and were combing the area for suspects.
Several pedestrians provided the victim with basic medical assistance until New York paramedics arrived to evacuate him to nearby Bellevue Hospital.
Police were investigating whether the assault was a hate crime due to the victim's traditional Jewish attire, the Daily News added. Last month, the New York Police Department arrested a 26-year-old man in connection to the stabbing of an Orthodox man in Brooklyn in February.
Yehuda Lib Brikman, 25, the son of a prominent local Chabad rabbi, was attacked on Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights, the neighborhood where the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s world headquarters are located.
The NYPD was looking for a black male who fled the scene.
The suspect has been identified as Kenny Rochelin. According to initial reports, Rochelin may be homeless and was apprehended on Wednesday after and charged with mugging and stabbing two other victims in Prospect Park.