New York Man and His Dog Stabbed in Subway Station, Police Searching for Suspect

Police are hunting a suspect who stabbed a homeless man and his dog after an argument inside a New York City subway station.

The incident occurred at around 4.10 a.m. on Wednesday inside the 14th Street station in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, a New York Police Department spokesman confirmed to Newsweek.

The 34-year-old victim reported that an unidentified man had approached him on the northbound platform of the F train station, located at West 14th Street and Avenue of the Americas near Union Square.

He told police that the suspect started stabbing his dog and he was stabbed in his right leg when he tried to defend the animal, the police spokesman added.

The victim had been sleeping on a bench at the station when he got into an argument with the stranger, PIX11 reported.

The dispute caused his dog—a Rottweiler, according to the New York Post—to become riled up. During the argument, the suspect pulled out a sharp object and slashed both him and his dog.

The victim was taken to the nearby Bellevue Hospital in the Kips Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan in a stable condition. The dog was taken to Animal Medical Center to be treated for its injures, police said.

The suspect fled the subway station after the stabbing, the police spokesman added. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.

The suspect is described as a black male, in his 30s, with a slim build. He was last seen wearing a brown jacket, black pants and a black hat.

Anyone with information about the stabbing is urged to call the New York Police Department's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip by visiting the Crime Stoppers website. They can also tweet @NYPDTips or send a text message to 274637.

The incident comes after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced he wants to hire more police officers patrolling the city's subway system to combat crime, fare evasion and homelessness, The New York Times reported last week.

Cuomo's plan to have 500 more officers join the 2,500 who already patrol the city's subway would cost the Metropolitan Transportation Authority more than $50 million a year, the newspaper reported.

The governor recently told reporters that there has been a "dramatic increase" in crime on the subway system. However, figures released by the NYPD last month show the overall number of major felonies on the subway is down by 9 percent from last year.