Sean Conaboy, a freelance cameraman, is being hailed as a hero on social media after he jumped in to rescue a woman being stabbed repeatedly by a knife wielding attacker in Manhattan's 14th Street-Union Square station. The victim, Kelli Daley ( 54), was waiting for her train when Joshua Nazario attacked her with a knife.
The incident, which took place on Wednesday night, was captured on CCTV. Police said that Daley received multiple non-life-threatening injuries on her left shoulder, collarbone and upper chest. The 22-year-old attacker was arrested by the police and charged on four counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
Conaboy Was Aware of the Danger of Being Attacked
During the grisly incident Conaboy was waiting for his train on a platform when he saw a man suddenly attack the woman with a knife. The video shows Nazario holding a large knife walking as he walks across the platform towards his victim.
Conaboy is seen jumping on Nazario and pinning him down to the ground as he tried to tackle the attacker. Speaking to ABC7, Conaboy said that he was looking at the track and Daley was the nearest person to the edge of that platform.
"I noticed her. And suddenly she got yanked backward and screamed, and this dagger or knife very quickly appeared and made an arching sweeping turn. I knew someone was being attacked," he said adding "I heard a woman scream, and so that's enough for me. I just jumped him, I just tackled him, jumped on his back. And that took us down to the platform surface."
Claiming that he was aware of being a potential victim while tackling Nazario, Conaboy said, "I'm trying desperately to keep him down, facedown because I know that if he gets up, or if he can turn on me, and he has that knife now, I'm a potential victim."
Social Media Hails Conaboy
The video and Conaboy's brave act went viral on social media. "This is the sweet face of a hero-Sean Conaboy. He saved a woman from a brutal knife assault on a subway platform this week. To all politicians: address serious mental illness here in NYC, or attacks like this will continue to occur," wrote a Twitter user.
Conaboy, who works as a freelance cameraman for Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) also received praise from his colleagues. "Wow - I knew my NYC colleague Sean Conaboy was a great guy and a real stand up person, now he's a hero too!" wrote Steven D'Souza, a CBC reporter.
"Sean Conaboy has more balls than 99% of the public, this woman is extremely lucky he was there & @NYCMayor is horrible, absolutely horrible," read a tweet.
