Transgender Black Man Slashed on Subway in Hate Crime Attack, Police Say

By Danielle Tcholakian, EAST HARLEM — A transgender black man was slashed on an uptown 4 train by a woman he offered his seat to, police said. The attack was first reported by the New York Post. The 44-year-old man was on a northbound 4 train about 11:20 p.m. Sunday, Christmas Day, when Stephanie Pazmino, 30, got on the subway with her cousin, police said. Pazmino’s cousin sat down next to the man and the man offered his seat to Pazmino so the cousins could sit together, police said. Pazmino told the man, “I don’t want your seat,” and then said to her cousin in Spanish, “I don’t want to sit next to a black person,” according to the NYPD. The man and Pazmino got into a verbal argument and the man got up and moved across the train car, police said. Police said the man was readying to get off the train at 125th Street when Pazmino took out a two-inch knife and slashed him several times on the left side of his face, and then stabbed his left arm. Police recovered the knife at the scene and took the victim to Harlem Hospital for treatment, the NYPD said. Pazmino was arrested at the scene and charged with hate crime assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, according to an NYPD spokeswoman. dnainfo.com/new-york