Mrs. Dolengo was on her way to Wall Street to work at the American Stock Exchange around 6 a.m. The alleged attacker cut Mrs. Dolengo’s face from her temple above her eyebrow down across her eyelid and into her nose. The doctors said it was a miracle that her eye was not cut.

The alleged attacker has a history of assaults. Witnesses said that the woman spewed out hate speech toward white people.

In spite of the tragedy, Mr. Dolengo said that God had protected his wife in a series of small miracles. The first was that a retired New York City police officer was standing on the platform near Mrs. Dolengo. He was too far away to prevent the attack but came to her aid after the incident, keeping her attacker at bay, preventing a second attack.

After leaving her in the good hands of another bystander, the retired police lieutenant then chased Mrs. Dolengo’s alleged assailant to the street where he flagged down a police car and assisted in arresting the woman, who was still holding the knife. Without the actions of this officer the assailant would have slipped away in the morning crowd.

During this time another bystander gave first aid as he walked Mrs. Dolengo to the police station. She was met by another police officer who just happened to be an ex-paramedic and who knew how to properly bandage the wound. The doctors and nurses in the hospital asked who did such a good bandaging job thus protecting the wound.

The alleged assailant was later taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment of a head wound received in the arrest and then remanded to Riker’s Island, a New York City jail.

Another small miracle was that Mrs. Dolengo was taken to New York University Medical Center rather than the closer hospital.