A 17-year-old migrant was stabbed during a fight in Times Square, just weeks after a group of asylum seekers was filmed attacking police officers on the same block.
The male victim, believed to be from Nicaragua, was chased by a group of more than a dozen people Thursday night before they caught him and stabbed him in the back, according to The New York Post.
The stabbing occurred in front of 251 W. 42nd Street around 5:30 pm and the victim was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. Police recovered a large blood-stained knife at the scene.
Hours later another fight broke out, believed to be unrelated, and a second man was taken to hospital. The attacks occurred on the same blocks where a group of migrants was filmed attacking police officers on January 27.
Times Square worker Bell Mohamed witnessed the latest attack and told The Post, “I saw someone running…and blood was coming out of their back, everywhere.”
The 28-year-old man, the victim of a second fight later Thursday, was loaded into the ambulance with minor injuries.
A bloody kitchen knife from the stabbing could be seen on a concrete block next to a broken post.
The gloved officers cleaned the knife and gathered evidence.
A young man was detained by police on Thursday night.
The officers directed bystanders away from the scene of the fights.
He called the area “dangerous” and added: “Some people are just crazy.”
Police told The Post that a 22-year-old man and six other people, including three immigrant teenagers, had been detained.
Officers are still searching for more than a dozen other people in connection with the stabbing.
Photos from the aftermath of the fight show the main tourist attraction cordoned off, with groups of police waiting and diverting spectators.
In one of the images, a long knife is seen placed on a concrete block while a gloved officer examines it.
Next to the knife is what appears to be a wooden pole split in half.
Two hours after the stabbing, another fight broke out just a block in front of the Hard Rock Café.
Officers helped the bleeding man up and loaded him into the ambulance.
The agents cordoned off the tourist destination while a crowd of curious onlookers gathered.
The police cordoned off the square after the clashes.
A 28-year-old man was attacked by three people who were arrested at the scene.
Photos showed him sitting on the ground looking dazed before officers helped him to his feet.
They put him in an ambulance and took him to the hospital with cuts on his head and blood on his face.
In other photos of the two fights, officers could be seen loading several young people with their hands secured into police vans, while the young man was loaded into an ambulance.
The latest fights come less than a month after a group of six immigrants were arrested and charged with robbery and serious assault following a vicious attack on New York police officers in Times Square on January 27.
The attack occurred around 8:30 p.m. when officers attempted to disperse a disorderly group in front of 220 West 42 Street.
Police sources confirmed to the New York Post the immigration status of the men involved in the January 27 attack.
The gang is said to have attacked after they were asked to keep moving without police. The alleged attackers were later arrested… and subsequently released without bail.
A fight broke out between a suspect in a yellow sweatshirt and police officers.
According to the NYPD, the immigrants began attacking the officers, kicking them in the head and body, while the two officers attempted to restrain one of the other men, ripping off his sweatshirt.
The migrants then fled and fled east on 42nd Street toward 7th Avenue.
Around 10:44 p.m. that night, four of them: Gómez, Arocha, Wilson and Reverón, were arrested.
All were charged with assault on a police officer, gang assault, obstruction of government administration and disorderly conduct, but were released without monetary bail.