The victim in a random knife attack on a Bronx subway deflected a stab to his heart with his arm, prosecutors revealed at the arraignment of the mentally ill parolee accused of attacking him.
The 21-year-old victim was on his way to work with his uncle when stranger Lateef Green, 50, allegedly lashed out with a “knuckle knife” on a No. 5 train nearing the 219th St. subway station in Williamsbridge Friday morning.
Green, who police say was pacing back and forth between cars on the moving train, stormed up to the victim and stabbed him multiple times in the arm and stomach, according to cops. His knife had holes in the handle for the wielder’s fingers, providing a firmer grip, according to police.
Had the victim’s arm not gotten in the way, Green’s knife would have pierced his heart, prosecutors said Saturday.
Police released surveillance images of Green, asking the public’s help identifying him, before nabbing him about 12 hours later. Prosecutors said his parole officer recognized him and the victim picked his face out of a photo array.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
Police respond to the 219th St. subway station in Williamsbridge on Friday morning. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
A Bronx Criminal Court judge ordered him held without bail after a state parole representative described him as “an imminent threat to the community.” He’s charged with attempted murder, multiple counts of assault and weapon possession.
His defense lawyer, Susan Light of the Legal Aid Society, asked for “a much more reasonable bail,” pointing out that Green has lived in supportive housing for more than four years and that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She asked that he receive psychiatric treatment.
Green has been arrested about 30 times, many for criminal trespass for sleeping in building doorways and stairwells, and violated parole after he was released from prison in 2021, police sources said. He served three-and-a-half years at Mid-State Correctional Facility after he was convicted in Manhattan on a hate crime assault and sexual abuse incident in 2017, state records show.
