Stabbing On Suffolk County Transit Bus Leads To Arrest: Police

FLANDERS, NY — A Mastic man was arrested after he stabbed someone on a Suffolk County Transit bus Friday afternoon, police said.

According to Southampton Town police, at about 3:57 p.m., a call came in about the stabbing on the bus, which had just left the County Center and was traveling south on County Road 51 in Riverhead.

Southampton Town Police patrol units, Community Response units, detectives, New York State police officers, and the Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded and began treating the stabbing victim, who had been stabbed with a knife and was taken to an area hospital for treatment, officials said.

The attacker fled on foot; after a brief search, Rene Alexander Elias Chaj, 23, was located by Southampton police, identified and arrested, authorities said. He was charged with first-degree assault and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both felonies, police said.

Chaj was processed at Southampton Town police headquarters and held overnight for morning arraignment, police said.