News: Woman Stabbed with Pen on NYC Subway
(Long Island, N.Y.) During the Tuesday morning rush a forty-five-year-old woman was stabbed in the face with a pen on a New York City Subway. The incident occurred at roughly a quarter after nine that morning after the woman tried to prevent a man from lighting a cigarette. The altercation caused the man to slash her face, using a pen as a weapon.
The woman, from Nutley, New Jersey, rode on a crowded No. 3 train that Tuesday morning. The incident occurred near the Chambers Street station, and an argument broke out after she asked the man to refrain from smoking. Smoking is prohibited on New York City subways.
The argument escalated enough for two nearby passengers to attempt to restrain the man from acting violent. Despite restraints, the man managed to stab the woman’s head, and she was taken to New York Downtown Hospital. She was treated for her wounds in stable condition and released later that day.
The man is being charged with felony assault and possession of a weapon. Some reports claimed that the man was thirty-five and homeless and that the woman snatched away his cigarette lighter. The incident caused services for the No. 2 and No. 3 trains to be halted and delayed for at least thirty minutes. It’s unsure if the incident, which has drawn national media attention, occurred before or after the cigarette was lit.
This incident comes months after New York City acquired its outdoor smoking ban affecting public areas in places such as Central Park, Time’s Square, and New York City beaches. Questions have been raised as to whether smokers will take heed of the new laws or ignore efforts toward their implementation. Some New York City residents wonder if the bands will promote extreme behavior from smokers, such as lighting up in crowded subways, as an act of defiance toward what many consider excessive measures in a campaign against smoking.
Once the New York City legislation against public outdoor smoking goes into effect at the end of May, residents might be tempted to inform smokers that they are prohibited to smoke in certain areas. If these situations play out as drastically as what has happened on a New York City subway, there may be cause for an increase in violent encounters between city dwellers. To insure that the new smoking bands don’t promote public mayhem, New York City officials need to send the message that only those in law enforcement should be the ones informing smokers of their law-breaking habit.
Over 1700 parks and 14 miles of beaches in New York City will be affected by the smoking ban. The fines for smokers will be fifty dollars, sparking lobbyers of the New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment into drastic action. New York City will be the third U.S. city to institute an outdoor ban on public smoking.
The first ban against smoking in New York City affected bars and restaurants in 2002. Statistics estimate that over a million smokers inhabit New York City streets daily. Proponents of the bans argue that limitations on smoking have led to fewer smokers and a longer lifespan for city residents.
