1 hour ago
3
A good Samaritan was stabbed in the stomach when he tried to stop an unruly trio from ganging up on an elderly man on a Queens subway platform – but the thick-skinned New Yorker said he’s “still gonna call it out” when he spots shady behavior on the rails.
Aaron Rodriguez, 35, a hotel chef from Briarwood, told The Post he was on his way home from a late night with friends around 5 a.m. Thursday when he spotted the three suspects harassing the senior on the southbound No. 7 train platform of the 82nd Street-Jackson Heights station.
“They were just yelling s–t at [the older guy] – calling him names and this and that,” Rodriguez said. “I was like, ‘Leave the guy alone!’”
That angered the trio, who said nothing before they “started throwing fists” at Rodriguez, he recalled.
“They just started fighting with me and just started scrapping, so I did my best to hold it down to defend myself,” he said. “But at some point during the scrap, they ended up stabbing me a couple times.”
Rodriguez was stabbed twice in the stomach with an “unknown sharp object,” police said.
“I don’t even remember getting stabbed until after they left, after they broke up,” the victim said.
“I was just about to get on the train, and I just felt warmth coming down,” he recalled. “And then I lifted my shirt up and saw I got stabbed so I went down to the street from the platform and called the emergency ambulance.”
Rodriguez was taken to the Elmhurst Hospital Center where he remained Friday, awaiting surgery to make sure nothing is awry internally before they close his wounds with stitches.
He is expected to be released over the weekend, he said.
When he returns to daily life, he said nothing will change about his commute or his attitude toward mayhem on the rails.
“No, I don’t think that it’s going to change anything,” Rodriguez said. “You know, I’m still going to be on high alert. If I see something I don’t like, I’m still gonna call it out. You know what I mean? It’s not gonna stop me. I’m not gonna let this affect me at all.”
He said he’s “not afraid at all” and “more mad than anything” as he hopes that justice will be served.
“I would like that,” he said of the suspects’ arrests. “I feel people should also have a right to defend themselves. I wasn’t armed. They were.”
The NYPD released photos several hours later of the alleged attackers, who were still on the loose Friday.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, on X @NYPDTips.
English (US)