A 46-year-old man was charged Wednesday with fatally stabbing a rider on a New York City subway train last week after the two got into an argument during the morning rush.
The man, identified by the police as Luis Jose-Duarte, was charged with manslaughter for his role in the death of the rider, John Sheldon, 38, according to the police. Mr. Jose-Duarte was arraigned Wednesday evening and pleaded not guilty.
The stabbing, the first homicide in the city’s subway system this year, took place Friday morning after Mr. Jose-Duarte and Mr. Sheldon began fighting on a downtown No. 5 train, the police said.
The men got into an argument after one stepped on the other’s shoe, a law enforcement official said.
According to a criminal complaint against Mr. Jose-Duarte, the situation escalated as the train approached the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station in Manhattan.
At that point, Mr. Sheldon, who had been sitting, stood to face Mr. Jose-Duarte, the complaint says. Mr. Jose-Duarte then struck Mr. Sheldon in the chest at least once and ran off the train with what appeared to be a knife.
Mr. Sheldon followed Mr. Jose-Duarte onto the subway platform, and the two men continued to fight until Mr. Sheldon stumbled backward and collapsed onto the floor, according to the complaint.
Officers responding to a 911 call about a stabbing at the station arrived shortly after 8:30 a.m. to find Mr. Sheldon unconscious on the platform with several chest wounds.
Emergency medical workers took him to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, the complaint says.
Mr. Jose-Duarte, who the police said fled the station after the stabbing, was arrested just before 10 a.m. on Wednesday, five days after the encounter.
Glenn Andrew Garber, Mr. Jose-Duarte’s lawyer, could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.
The stabbing occurred at an important moment for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that operates the subway, which has been struggling to convince riders that the subway is safe. A series of jarring and public attacks in the system over the past two years have put some New Yorkers on edge.
For months, the M.T.A. has also been locked in a standoff with the Trump administration over funding for the transit system, which is used by more than four million riders a day. The subway has been the target of frequent attacks by Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, who has described it as lawless and dangerous, even as crime in the system has fallen.
Major crime in the subway was down 18 percent in the first three months of 2025 compared with the same period last year, according to data compiled by the Police Department. As of Sunday, overall crime in the system had declined almost 8 percent so far this year, though it has risen slightly in the past few weeks.
Maia Coleman is a reporter for The Times covering the New York Police Department and criminal justice in the New York area.
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