Man charged with manslaughter after subway stabbing

A Queens man was charged Tuesday night in Brooklyn with stabbing and killing a man during a dispute on a New York City subway, police said.

The man, Jordan Williams, 20, stabbed the victim, Devictor Ouedraogo, 36, on a northbound J train, police said. Officers found Mr. Ouedraogo, a Brooklyn resident, on the platform of Williamsburg’s Marcy Avenue station at about 8 p.m. with a stab wound to the chest. He was taken to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he died.

Mr Williams was arrested on Wednesday and charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of weapons. A woman taken into custody with Mr Williams was released.

Before meeting the men, Mr Ouedraogo had gotten into a dispute with passengers on the train, including Mr Williams’ girlfriend, according to police sources.

The episode came about six weeks after the fatal asphyxiation of Jordan Neely, a street performer who was homeless, on an F train, and once again drew attention to the endemic problem of underground safety.

Neely, a dancer and performer known for impersonating Michael Jackson, was “making threats and frightening passengers” on the train, according to prosecutors, when another man, Daniel Penny, came from behind and put him in a stranglehold. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office charged Mr. Penny with second-degree manslaughter a week after the murder.

While the likelihood of becoming a victim of a subway crime is statistically low, New Yorkers have been rocked by incidents of violence in recent years as the system struggles to return to prepandemic levels of ridership.

In recent months, subway officers have detained significantly more people for breaking the law. Police statistics show that there were approx 4,000 arrests in the transit system from January through April of this year, compared to nearly 3,000 arrests during the same period in 2022.

Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.