A homeless man stabbed a woman in the face with a pen on the No. 3 train Tuesday after she berated him for trying to smoke in the subway.
Cops said Caroberto Cordero, 35, was trying to light a cigarette on the crowded downtown train during the morning rush when Evelyn Seeger, 45, told him to stop.
Witnesses said the argument quickly escalated, with Cordero waving a big lighter with a high flame in her face and the woman yelling.
He suddenly pulled out a pen and slashed her face from temple to nose in front of horrified riders.
"I looked up and the woman had blood gushing from her face. Someone yelled, 'He stabbed her in the eye!'" said witness Ronethea Williams, 27.
"We assumed it was a knife because of all the blood, but the woman was still fighting with the guy, trying to get the weapon out of his hand," Williams told the Daily News.
"People are running away and trying to get out of the way," she said.
On her blog, she later descibed the whole thing as "the craziest train ride I've ever had."
"Twilight-freaking-zone," she wrote.
Williams, who lives in Harlem and was heading to her job as marketing manager for an educational non-profit, said the bearded Cordero didn't stand out from other riders until he began flicking his lighter.
"He wasn't large," she said, estimating he stood about 5-foot-7 and weighed 150 pounds. "I could probably take him."
"I saw the flame from the lighter - it was a few inches high," she said. "It was pretty hardcore."
Williams said Seeger told Cordero to stop, and then tried to knock the lighter from his hand.
"She was in his face and he's in her face," Williams recounted. "He was lighting the flame in her face, taunting her with the flame, and she was yelling 'Stop it!'
"I became alarmed, because there were a lot of guys around, and I yelled, 'Can't some guys step in?'"
Williams said two men grabbed Cordero and while they were trying to restrain him, he slashed Seeger with the pen.
The train was in the tunnel between 14th Street and Chambers at the time, witnesses said.
Straphangers rallied around.
"Someone gave her a napkin for her wound," Williams said.
Someone else went to find the conductor, who slowed the train in the tunnel, hoping police would get to the arriving platform before the train pulled in to Chambers St.
Some straphangers wanted to pull the emergency cord, but others said that would just stop the train in the tunnel and delay aid, she said.
"When the train pulled into the station, the cops still weren't there," Williams said. "I ran out of the train to try to find some medical assistance. I was going through the cars asking if there was a doctor or nurse in the cars."
There were none, but cops soon arrived.
Seeger, of Nutley, N.J., was taken to New York Downtown Hospital, where she was treated and later released.
Cordero, who has no permanent address, was charged with felony assault, police said.
Downtown service on the No. 2 and 3 lines was halted for about half an hour, a transit spokeswoman said.
"This woman was doing what she thought was right," Williams said. "She was standing up to this man for her safety...for our safety."
Cops said Caroberto Cordero, 35, was trying to light a cigarette on the crowded downtown train during the morning rush when Evelyn Seeger, 45, told him to stop.
Witnesses said the argument quickly escalated, with Cordero waving a big lighter with a high flame in her face and the woman yelling.
He suddenly pulled out a pen and slashed her face from temple to nose in front of horrified riders.
"I looked up and the woman had blood gushing from her face. Someone yelled, 'He stabbed her in the eye!'" said witness Ronethea Williams, 27.
"We assumed it was a knife because of all the blood, but the woman was still fighting with the guy, trying to get the weapon out of his hand," Williams told the Daily News.
"People are running away and trying to get out of the way," she said.
On her blog, she later descibed the whole thing as "the craziest train ride I've ever had."
"Twilight-freaking-zone," she wrote.
Williams, who lives in Harlem and was heading to her job as marketing manager for an educational non-profit, said the bearded Cordero didn't stand out from other riders until he began flicking his lighter.
"He wasn't large," she said, estimating he stood about 5-foot-7 and weighed 150 pounds. "I could probably take him."
"I saw the flame from the lighter - it was a few inches high," she said. "It was pretty hardcore."
Williams said Seeger told Cordero to stop, and then tried to knock the lighter from his hand.
"She was in his face and he's in her face," Williams recounted. "He was lighting the flame in her face, taunting her with the flame, and she was yelling 'Stop it!'
"I became alarmed, because there were a lot of guys around, and I yelled, 'Can't some guys step in?'"
Williams said two men grabbed Cordero and while they were trying to restrain him, he slashed Seeger with the pen.
The train was in the tunnel between 14th Street and Chambers at the time, witnesses said.
Straphangers rallied around.
"Someone gave her a napkin for her wound," Williams said.
Someone else went to find the conductor, who slowed the train in the tunnel, hoping police would get to the arriving platform before the train pulled in to Chambers St.
Some straphangers wanted to pull the emergency cord, but others said that would just stop the train in the tunnel and delay aid, she said.
"When the train pulled into the station, the cops still weren't there," Williams said. "I ran out of the train to try to find some medical assistance. I was going through the cars asking if there was a doctor or nurse in the cars."
There were none, but cops soon arrived.
Seeger, of Nutley, N.J., was taken to New York Downtown Hospital, where she was treated and later released.
Cordero, who has no permanent address, was charged with felony assault, police said.
Downtown service on the No. 2 and 3 lines was halted for about half an hour, a transit spokeswoman said.
"This woman was doing what she thought was right," Williams said. "She was standing up to this man for her safety...for our safety."
