An Uber driver and a pedestrian were both stabbed in a pair of separate, unrelated attacks Thursday in midtown Manhattan.
The two were attacked just blocks apart at the height of Thursday evening's rush in the city's most bustling district.
First, at about 4:30 p.m., the Uber driver got in a fight with another motorist who thought he cut him off near West 50th Street and Seventh Avenue.
The suspect parked his van, walked up to the Uber driver's open driver-side window and stabbed him in the arm, according to police. Witnesses said there was blood everywhere.
Witnesses told police the suspect in his 30s ran around frantically for a minute then drove off in a gray van that was last seen driving eastbound on 50th Street.
Then, about 6 p.m., a man riding a bike with what witnesses said was a large knife hopped off and slashed a man at East 54th Street and Park Avenue.
Witnesses said the man who was slashed actually started the altercation. They said he appeared to be mentally unstable and talking to himself before he punched the cyclist in the face.
Witnesses said that when the cyclist slashed at the man, a food vendor ran up and pulled them apart.
"I thought he was gonna kill him," said one witness.
The cyclist took off after that, and the man who was slashed was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and is expected to survive.
