Police say they have arrested a man connected to a handful of reported assaults through the city, including Sunday's violent stabbing at a midtown subway station that hospitalized a 76-year-old man.
Iqbal Ahmed has been in the hospital since he was stabbed in the chest walking toward the train on the mezzanine level of the 34th Street-Herald Square station. As the 76-year-old man was entering the station, police said that a panhandler went up to him and asked for money.
From his hospital bed, Ahmed says he told the man he did not have any money and kept walking.
"I used my subway card, took the escalator, went to the platform to take my train. All of a sudden I saw all my shirt and sweater, they were full of blood," he said Tuesday.
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The attack, he says, happened in the blink of an eye.
"When he stabbed me I didn't realize what happened," Ahmed said.
The stabbing occurred around 11:30 p.m. while Ahmed was heading home from work. After the stabbing, he managed to flag down an MTA employee and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in an ambulance. His doctors are worried about his lungs and aren't sure how long he will remain hospitalized.
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"The pain was so severe. Still, there is pain," he said.
Cops arrested 38-year-old David Trotman for the stabbing, in addition to punching a straphanger on Monday and a separate groping case. He was represented at his arraignment by Michael Papson of the New York County Defender Services, and the next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 18.
Ahmed said he was pleased to hear police had caught up to the man.
