A subway rider was slashed by a rival straphanger — only to be punched in the face by a total stranger who’d just walked free on a felony robbery charge a month prior — during a bizarre Saturday-night melee, cops said.
The 53-year-old victim was arguing with an unidentified attacker on a downtown 4 train when the assailant whipped out a knife and cut him across the face, the NYPD said.
Then a second suspect, identified by police as Benigno Perez, 37, slugged the victim — although police said he didn’t know either man.
When the train stopped at the Grand Central 42nd Street station at around 10:15 p.m., the fight spilled out onto the platform — with other straphangers holding back Perez, who was arrested at the scene.
Perez, who is listed as a resident of the Manhattan Psychiatric Center on Wards Island, was given a summons for assault, police said Sunday.
Sources he has 12 prior arrests — including for assault and patronizing a prostitute — and had been freed without bail on a felony robbery case when he allegedly slugged the straphanger.
He was charged with third-degree robbery on Oct. 22 and released without bail pending a return court appearance in January.
nypost.com
