Subway rider charged with attempted murder after stabbing MTA operator in Brooklyn, police say

A subway train operator was critically injured Tuesday morning after being stabbed multiple times by a passenger who refused to get off a 4 train at the end of the line in Crown Heights, police said.

The MTA and police officials said the suspect, who faces charges of attempted murder, has a history of preying on people in the transit system.

MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said the victim, 31-year MTA veteran Myran Pollack, 60, asked the rider to exit the train at the Utica Avenue station shortly before 11 a.m. The interaction escalated into a violent confrontation when the passenger chased Pollack onto the platform, pinned him down and stabbed him multiple times in the torso, abdomen and thigh, according to Lieber and officials.

Pollack was rushed to Kings County Hospital and remains in critical condition, hospital officials said.

The attack follows the MTA’s implementation of rules in 2020 requiring riders to leave end-of-line subway stations when a train is taken out of service at a terminal.

While overall crime is down in the transit system compared to last year and before the pandemic, officials said a growing number of crimes are being committed by repeat offenders.

“This is a person that uses the transit system to prey on our customers and our employees,” Kathryn Falasca, the MTA’s criminal justice advocate, said at a news conference. “It is unacceptable and tragic that he is allowed to still ride our systems.”

Falasca said the 27-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released, was previously convicted for slashing an MTA employee and a rider in two separate incidents. He has been arrested 14 times, officials said.

The MTA’s chief security officer, Michael Kemper, said NYPD officers were on the scene when the attack happened. They intervened by pulling the assailant off Pollack and taking him into custody, police said.

Lieber also noted that Pollack is married and has served as a mentor to many of his colleagues during his three decades with the MTA.

This story has been updated with additional information from the NYPD.