MTA operator stabbed in Brooklyn subway by repeat offender

An MTA subway operator is “fighting for his life” after he was stabbed multiple times by a repeat transit offender in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning, union officials said.

Soon-to-retire Myran Pollack, 60, was shot in the stomach and leg during an argument shortly before 11 a.m. with a man who refused to leave the train at the Crown Heights-Utica Avenue terminus, according to police injured.

The 31-year MTA veteran was trying to clean the train car when he got into an argument with the passenger, who then followed Pollack onto the southbound 4 train platform and stabbed him twice, police said.

MTA security chief Michael Kemper said officers already at the station intervened while the 27-year-old attacker was still sitting on Pollack.

Police arrested the train operator’s alleged attacker, Jonathan Davalos, and charged him with attempted murder, assault and threats.

Kemper said Davalos has an extensive criminal history.

He was previously convicted of assaulting an MTA operator and assaulting a customer, for which he was released from prison in February, MTA officials said, adding that Davalos was using the transit system “for evil purposes.”

“We have to find a way to drive people like this perpetrator out of public spaces, out of the subways, so that they don’t keep attacking people,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber said on Tuesday.

“Crime is down, but recidivism has a disproportionate impact on New Yorkers.”

Richard Davis, president of TWU Local 100, said the victim – who was about to file his retirement papers – was “fighting for his life” after being taken to Kings County Hospital.

“This has to stop. The guidelines and the legislators have to change. “Transit policy needs to change,” Davis said.

“Our members come to work every day with no blood on their hands, no blood on their shirt, no blood on their body, and they go home like that. It’s not correct. It’s not right. The politicians, the transit authority and the judges cannot continue to release these people from prison. It’s a continuous cycle,” he said.

Tuesday’s underground violence came as the NYPD announced an 8.7% drop in crime on public transit in September.

While officials noted that progress had been made – noting that traffic crime was down 12% compared to pre-COVID levels – they said there were still a large number of crimes committed by repeat offenders.

“We call on the criminal justice system to rise to this challenge,” said Lieber.

“We must find a way for the criminal justice system to protect New Yorkers, especially transit riders, from people who continually seek to harm them.”

Pollack remains in critical condition following surgery, officials said.