Subway Slasher Sentenced After Brutal Attack On Brooklyn Train: DA

BROOKLYN, NY — The man who slashed a stranger across the face during a late-night subway ride through Brooklyn will spend seven years of his life behind bars, officials said.

Sean Lewis, 34, of Crown Heights, was slapped with attempted assault charges for the brutal attack on a 44-year-old commuter who was trying to intervene in an argument between Lewis and another passenger, according to officials.

"Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for a vicious and unprovoked attack of a stranger riding the subway," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "The fact that the victim was simply acting as a good Samaritan makes the defendant’s behavior in this case especially appalling."

Lewis was sentenced in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Monday, nearly two months after pleading guilty to first-degree attempted assault.

Gonzalez stated that on the evening of May 10, 2023, Lewis was arguing with a subway rider when a 44-year-old stranger stepped in to intervene, causing Lewis to turn his attention on him.

Prosecutors said that although the victim tried to move to the other end of the subway car, Lewis approached him again as the train arrived at Franklin Avenue station in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Lewis then said, “Thank you,” before slashing the would-be peacemaker across the face.

The victim fled into the station and was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he required about 100 stitches to close the wound on the left side of his face, prosecutors said.

The police were able to identify Lewis on surveillance footage and arrest him the following week.

"We will never tolerate violence in the subway system," Gonzalez said.