NOHO, Manhattan — A 21-year-old man accused of randomly slashing a 71-year-old straphanger’s face on a subway train has been arrested.
Damon Knowles, of Brooklyn, faces assault charges — intent to cause disfigurement and intent to cause physical injury– for wounding a 71-year-old woman’s left cheek on a northbound D train as the doors opened, approaching the Broadway-Lafayette stop during the Monday morning rush hour, police say.
He then fled from the station, but cameras caught him clumsily jumping over a turnstile on the way out.
Knowles, who had no prior arrests or history of mental illness, was taken into custody late Tuesday after trespassing in his girlfriend’s Brownsville apartment and becoming violent with her, police said. His girlfriend’s mother called police and identified him as the subway slasher after she saw him on surveillance footage, cops said.
He was later singled out by the slashing victim in a lineup and was placed in handcuffs.
Before the arrest, the victim told PIX11 on Tuesday that she forgives her attacker.
