Earlier today, I offered up my take on what we can learn from Saturday’s senseless subway killing. As the day has worn on, more details about both men have emerged (Daily News, Post). The alleged killer was an exterminator who suffered a fall a few weeks ago and had been on pain medication. The victim was an extreme germaphobe who used his bag to act as a buffer between him and the outside world. These were two people who were not well, and both ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The most recent details focus around the conflict. We know that Gerardo Sanchez, the alleged perp, asked Dwight Johnson to move his bag, but while earlier reports said that Johnson started the physical fight, eyewitnesses say that Johnson complied after pointing out other open seats. Sanchez then started yelling at Johnson and stabbed him in the neck, severing the carotid artery and killing him instantly. As passengers gathered to one end of the car, Sanchez sat there in a stupor.
Clearly, then, if this account is accurate, we can see how any outside interference was nearly impossible in this situation. One man snapped, and a few seconds later, the other was dead. No one else could have stepped in to be a hero, and the fact that Sanchez had a knife and no gun and did not turn on anyone else in the car is a relief.
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While this is a horrible event, those of us who have been riding the NYC subways since the late 1980s know that they are much safer now than they have been in many years.