A Bronx man was charged Wednesday for allegedly stabbing an MTA motorman on the job the previous day at a Brooklyn subway station.
Police said Jonathan Davalos, 26, of Weeks Avenue allegedly attacked the 60-year-old subway operator, Myron Pollack, a 31-year MTA veteran, during a dispute on board a 4 train at the Crown Heights-Utica Avenue station at about 10:49 a.m. on Oct. 8.
Davalos said nothing as NYPD Transit Bureau officers escorted him from the 77th Precinct stationhouse on Wednesday morning while en route to Kings County Criminal Court for his arraignment.
According to law enforcement sources, Davalos and Pollack got into a verbal argument when the suspect refused to get off the train at the southern terminus of the 4 line.
After the dispute intensified, cops said, the passenger stabbed Pollack in the leg and torso.
Officers from the 77th Precinct and NYPD Transit District 32 responded to the incident. MTA Security Chief Michael Kemper, until recently the NYPD’s Transit Chief, said that officers already in the station intervened while Davalos was still on top of Pollack, and took him into custody.
Pollack was taken to Kings County Hospital, where doctors performed surgery. On Tuesday afternoon, MTA Chief Janno Lieber said that Pollack was in critical condition.
Lieber also described Pollack as “a real pro.”
“He mentors people,” said Lieber. “He’s one of those guys who knows his way around the system and is beloved by his fellow employees.”
Davalos was booked on charges of second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault, and menacing.
Tuesday’s stabbing occurred on the same day the NYPD announced an 8.7% decrease in transit crime during September.
