Panic On Upper West Side Subway After Woman Yells Knife Threat, Police Say

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An "emotionally disturbed" woman was taken into custody Wednesday after her claims that a passenger had a knife caused a panicked "stampede," witnesses and police said.

Eyewitnesses described passengers sprinting off a B train at the 81st St.-Museum of Natural History station. Nick Connolly, a passenger on the train, took to Twitter to describe a "mass evacuation with people screaming and stampeding" as police arrived on the scene.

"The train arrived at 81st street heading down town. I was in the front car and the train seemed to stay in the station longer than usual and then everyone started screaming and running off the train and out of the station," Connolly told Patch.

"Then I saw a cop run down into the station and several police cars and an Ambulance driving to the scene."

The woman — who has not been identified — made claims that there was somebody with a knife inside the station, an NYPD spokesman said. When officers arrived at the scene they found nobody with a knife, police said.

The woman was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Nobody was injured, the NYPD spokesman said.

During the police response at the station, B and C train service was affected. Service has since been restored with delays, according to the MTA.

Photo by Patch