Man's Ear Nearly Slashed off in East Harlem Train Station

EAST HARLEM, NY — Two men were taken to the hospital, one with a slash wound to the face, after being assaulted Thursday night on a northbound six train at an East Harlem subway station.

Two men in their 20s attacked a 35-year-old male and a 59-year-old male after getting into a verbal dispute at the East 110th Street and Lexington Avenue subway station, police told Patch. The dispute allegedly started when one of the victims sat down on the train and brushed one of the attacker's legs, police said.

The fight began on the train but ended up spilling out onto the platform, police told Patch. After the assault the suspects fled the station in an unknown direction, police said.

During the fight the 35-year-old victim was slashed in the face, suffering lacerations to the left ear, left eye, nose and head, police said. The 59-year-old victim suffered a laceration to his right eye, police said.

A witness at the train station said the slashed man nearly had his ear cut off.

"“The earlobe was kind of hanging off, it was bleeding a lot, he looked dazed to me,” Nick James, 22, told the Daily News. “It was pretty disgusting — I never seen an earlobe hang off like that. It looked like he needed to go to the hospital.”

Both victims were taken to Metropolitan Hospital in stable condition and treated for their injuries, police said.

Both suspects were described as males around 18-20 years old. At the time of the assault one suspect was wearing a maroon jacket, black sneakers and black pants and the other was wearing a gray sweater, black pants, black shoes and a black cap, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

Photo courtesy of NYPD