Rash of Subway Attacks Raises Worries With 24-Hour Service Set to Return

Hours after mayoral candidates clashed over how to address crime in the transit system, the police reported a series of early-morning assaults.

In the span of 12 minutes early Friday, the police said, two men attacked commuters at three Manhattan subway stations, increasing concerns about public safety in New York City’s transit system even as 24-hour subway service is set to resume on Monday. The attackers, striking together at stations on the Lexington Avenue line starting at around 4:30 a.m., slashed three riders, two in the face and one in the back of the head, the police said. A fourth person was punched, the police said. The three slashing victims, all men in their 40s, were hospitalized and in stable condition, according to the police, who said the suspects were in their 20s. One slashed at the three men as the other urged him on, the police said.