Bloodied Knife, Stolen Backpack Seized From Subway Slasher After Rampage

A blood-stained knife and a victim's backpack were seized from a suspect involved in Friday's Manhattan subway slashing spree.

Joseph Foster, 18, is facing a battery of charges, including first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon for his alleged role in the shocking spate of stabbings in Manhattan's subway.

Foster and his accomplices reportedly went on a slashing rampage on a D train Friday, indiscriminately stabbing a handful of people and leaving one victim blind in one eye.

The backpack found in Foster's possession belonged to the blinded victim, noted authorities. A bloodied kitchen knife was also found inside the bag.

Foster, who has a three-year-old daughter, was previously arrested on January 13 on first-degree robbery charges for an alleged knifepoint mugging and stabbing of a cyclist. He would later be released without bail, the New York Post reported.

According to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Katherine Byrns, surveillance footage obtained from the subway showed Foster allegedly dragging a victim back inside the train as he was trying to escape. Byrns also suggested that the attacks were seemingly part of a gang "initiation."

Foster is being charged alongside Taquarious Soto-Burgos, 19, and a 16-year-old minor boy whose identity has been withheld due to his age. The New York Police Department has released a surveillance camera image of a fourth suspect still at large.

The DA’s office said the 16-year-old, who managed to flee from a group home in Brooklyn before the arrests, was responsible for most of the stabbings as his older accomplices egged him on.

Prosecutors say Foster and his accomplices started their violent robbery spree just after 4 a.m. Friday. They began with several thefts at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue and then continued south.

The first attack occurred at around 4:20 a.m. A 44-year-old man on the southbound 4-train was mauled and slashed in the left side of his cheek, police confirmed.

The victim got off at the 14th Street/Union Square station, but the suspects stayed on the train and continued creating havoc.

The suspect's lawyer, Patricia Wright, on Sunday pleaded to Judge James Burke for leniency in setting bail, insisting “there are no injuries caused by Foster’s involvement.”

The defendants have admitted to their association with one another, their presence at the scene of the crimes, and also copped to “portions of their involvement”, the prosecutors revealed.