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TikToker Chris Olsen has opened up about a terrifying violent incident with a knife that he and a friend witnessed while riding the train in New York City, and issued a warning to his followers to stay safe on the subway.
“We just basically witnessed a stabbing and almost died on the subway ourselves,” he said in a video posted on TikTok Wednesday (January 1).
Olsen explained that as someone who regularly rides the subway, he wasn’t paying much attention to the two passengers who were screaming at each other, until his friend, Caroline Haroldson, who is from out of town, drew his attention to it.
“Most people have their headphones in, so they aren’t really listening to what’s going on, but Cara and I are listening to the whole thing,” he said. Haroldson noticed that one of the passengers had pulled out a knife.
The TikToker added that he was making jokes, not thinking the interaction was as serious as it was until one of the yelling passengers began to run and charge at the other. This caused the entire car to run toward the side door of the subway car in the hopes of exiting, right by where Olsen and Haroldson were sitting.
Olsen says he ending up “ripping open” the door between the subway cars to allow all of the passengers to get out, but the car in front of them had a locked door.
“We get pushed all the way to the front of that next car, but the door in front of that is completely locked, all we can hear behind us is people are screaming,” Olsen said.
“We don’t know if someone has brought out a gun. We don’t know who else has been stabbed.”
It is unclear if someone was actually stabbed or injured in the incident.
They continued to pry the door open, with none of the attempts working, until one passenger pulled the emergency break, stopping the entire train.
“One of the guys in front of us is yelling back at everyone to try to calm down and stop screaming because it’s just making it worse for everyone,” Olsen said. “Meanwhile, we still don’t know what’s happening behind us. We don’t know the reason for their screams.”
The conductor had then arrived with a key to unlock the door and allow the passengers to exit. The TikToker admitted that both he and Haroldson were so overwhelmed after the situation that they began crying after leaving the train station.
“The subway — please stay safe. Just please stay safe. There’s been too much that’s been happening on there,” he told his viewers.
There were two separate reporting subway stabbing occurrences on January 1 in New York, although the timing does not seem to align with Olsen’s incident, with one in Morningside Heights on a southward heading 1 train at 9:30 a.m. and another taking place 15 minutes later on a north-bound 2 train at 14th Street and 7th Avenue.
Olsen’s video comes after a series of violent stints on the New York City subway, including a woman who was recently burned to death while riding the train in December 2024, and a man who was pushed in front of an approaching by a stranger, although miraculously survived.
