TikToker shares harrowing near-death experience on NYC subway amid violent crime spree

A TikToker has revealed a terrifying encounter on the New York City subway, sharing the chilling details of a violent altercation involving a knife that left him and his fellow passengers fighting for their lives.

In a poignant TikTok video posted on New Year’s Day: Chris Olsen, who has 13 million followers recounted what he said was the life-threatening ordeal that unfolded as he and his girlfriend, Caroline Haroldson, rode a train through the city.

“We just witnessed a stabbing and almost died ourselves on the subway,” Olsen began, his voice shaking as he relived the traumatic experience.

The terrifying episode started like any other subway ride for Olsen, a veteran New Yorker.

Unfazed by the loud exchange of shouting between two passengers, Olsen initially dismissed it as just another typical subway bicker.

However, Haroldson, who was visiting from out of town, soon realized that the situation was much more sinister when she saw one of the passengers brandishing a knife.

“Most people have their headphones in, so they’re not really listening to what’s going on, but Cara and I are listening to the whole thing,” Olsen said.

“I was still joking around and didn’t realize how serious it was until one of them attacked the other.”

In New York, personal safety on the subway is generally comparable to safety in the city as a whole, but life-threatening crimes such as stabbings and shovings raise alarms on trains

As chaos broke out, the train car panicked. Passengers ran to the side door of the car, where Olsen and Haroldson were sitting.

Olsen thought quickly and took action. He ‘ripped open the door between the cars’ so terrified passengers could escape.

But their relief was short-lived when the door of the adjacent car was found to be locked.

“We are pushed all the way to the front of the next car, but the door in front of it is completely locked,” Olsen remembers.

‘All we can hear behind us is people screaming. We don’t know if anyone pulled out a gun. We don’t know who else was stabbed.”

The uncertainty added to the chaos as passengers desperately clawed at the door in an attempt to escape.

Finally, someone pulled the emergency brake, bringing the train to a halt, while passengers could be heard screaming in fear.

Amid the pandemonium, a brave passenger tried to calm the crowd and urged them to stop shouting to reduce panic among fellow travelers.

Olsen, right, and his girlfriend Caroline Haroldson, overwhelmed by the ordeal, broke down in tears as they reached the safety of the platform

The nerve-wracking event comes amid a wave of violent incidents across the New York City subway system

Finally, the conductor arrived with a key to unlock the door, allowing the passengers to escape the train.

Olsen and Haroldson, overwhelmed by the ordeal, broke down in tears as they reached the safety of the platform.

“The subway – please stay safe,” Olsen implored his followers in his TikTok video. “Too much has happened there.”

The nerve-wracking event comes amid a wave of violent incidents across the New York City subway system.

Just weeks earlier, a woman was tragically burned to death while riding a train, and a man barely survived being pushed in front of an oncoming train by a stranger.

On the same day as Olsen’s encounter, two separate stabbings were reported in Manhattan, although neither seemed to match Olsen’s timing.

In New York, personal safety on the subway is generally comparable to safety in the city as a whole, but life-threatening crimes such as stabbings and shovings have raised concerns about the trains, which would carry more than 1 billion passengers in 2024.

Police figures show that major crimes in the metro fell in November compared to the same period last year, but murders rose from five to nine.

The NYPD told DailyMail.com that they recorded 24 incidents of people being pushed onto subway tracks in 2024 – a 41 percent increase from last year’s total of 17.

On Christmas Eve, two people were injured in Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal after a maniac was stabbed.

Sources told DailyMail.com at the time that a 28-year-old man slashed two strangers with a knife in the apparently random attack just after 10pm at the busy tourist hotspot.

And just days before that, the Big Apple was stunned when a homeless woman was set on fire and burned while sleeping on a subway train.

The victim was identified by the NYPD on Tuesday as Debrina Kawam, a 61-year-old homeless woman from New Jersey.