A straphanger incensed over subway directions stabbed a conductor on the N train yesterday morning, police said.
A passenger who had just gotten off the train at the 53rd Street and Fourth Avenue station in Brooklyn not only witnessed the stabbing, but bagged the alleged attacker for cops and recovered the weapon – a small ice pick.
Rafael Stern, 64, of 382 Central Park West, was arrested for allegedly assaulting Richard Canarick as the trainman tried to close the doors of the Coney Island local.
“He was arguing with the conductor over how to get to New Utrecht Avenue,” said Elvin Gonzalez, who suffered a cut lip subduing Stern.
“He kept holding the door of the train, and the conductor told him to let go. He punched the conductor through the window.
“I saw his hand go in the window again,” the 30-year-old Brooklyn resident added. “I said to myself, ‘Wow, this guy’s out of his mind.'”
Stern threw the ice pick in a garbage can on the platform, according to Gonzalez.
“I said to him, ‘Yo, you just stabbed the conductor,’ then he went to go upstairs,” Gonzalez said.
That’s when Stern attacked him, Gonzalez said, but the older man was no match for the modest paralegal.
“I don’t consider myself a hero,” Gonzalez said. “I try to mind my business, but when a situation is very abusive, it doesn’t sit right with me.”
Canarick, 33, was treated at Lutheran Hospital for a superficial puncture wound, police said.
Gonzalez, who was also seen by doctors at Lutheran, said Canarick was delighted that Stern had been pinched and told him, “I’ll be grateful to you forever.”
Canarick’s stunned wife asked Gonzalez, “What was this guy thinking?”
Cops were unsure last night what charges would be brought against Stern.