A stranger stabbed a man with a screwdriver after the attacker tried to bum a cigarette in the heart of Times Square on Tuesday, police sources said.
The 31-year-old victim was smoking on West 43rd Street near Seventh Avenue — a busy block filled with multiple restaurants and bars — around 6:20 p.m. when another man asked him for a smoke, the sources said.
When he said “no,” the menace pulled out a screwdriver and stabbed him in the cheek, sources said.
The victim, a Brooklyn resident, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition, cops said.
No arrests had been made by Wednesday.
The attack happened in the confines of the NYPD’s Midtown South Precinct, where 27 felony assaults have been reported so far in January, according to the latest statistics, updated Sunday.
That number is down from the 43 such crimes reported in the area within the same period in 2023.
Misdemeanor assaults, however, have risen during the same period — from 48 to 57, according to the data.