On Saturday morning, Joseph Lozito was simply taking the subway to work. Today, he finds himself labeled a hero after taking down a whack job, who seemed intent on adding to a 28-hour stabbing and murder spree.
Lovito said he used an MMA technique to take down a knife-wielding attacker on the No. 3 train. From ABC News:
With a leg swipe, Lozito helped knock down [Maksim] Gelman, a grafitti vandal with at least 10 prior arrests. Lozito said that watching mixed martial arts on television helped him fight Gelman.
"I guess you watch it for 20 years, you just pick up some things through osmosis," he said.
He knew something was wrong when he first jumped on the No. 3:
"When I boarded the train at Penn Station, a good amount of people boarded and I noticed there were two police officers boarding with me. You could hear on their walkie talkies that something was going on...they were there for a reason," Lozito said.
Subway riders had spotted Gelman jumping off one train and onto another early Saturday morning.
When he boarded Lozito's subway car, he pounded on the conductor's door, demanding to be let in.
"When I first saw this man approach the motorman's quarters, he just looked off, he just looked like there was something about him. When he started knocking on the window, telling the police to let him in, it set up a red flag," he said.
Lozito said Gelman, 23, then turned his attention to him.
"Basically, he was about two or three feet away from me. He took out a giant knife and just looked at me and said, 'You're going to die, you're going to die,' and then he lunged at me," Lozito said.
Lozito lunged forward and took Gelman to the floor. From the New York Times:
Once on the ground, Mr. Lozito grabbed his attacker around the waist, and the officers from the motorman’s cab rushed to help. They handcuffed and arrested Mr. Gelman, who was awaiting arraignment Sunday night.
Mr. Lozito suffered four knife wounds to the head and a gash above his left eye. The tribal tattoo on his left triceps was slashed, and a wound on the back of his head required 20 stitches and 18 staples.
"It could have been a lot worse," he said. "I’m glad I wasn’t No. 5 — I’m glad he didn’t kill anyone else."
New York City police were on the lookout for Gelman:
...who killed his mother’s boyfriend, Alexander Kuznetsov; an unrequited love interest, Yelena Bulchenko; and Ms. Bulchenko's mother, Anna Bulchenko.
Gelman also ran over and killed a 62-year-old pedestrian with a car he stole from Kuznetsov. He crashed that Lexus into a Pontiac Bonneville, stabbed that driver and stole the Bonneville. Four hours later, Gelman emerged in Crown Heights and stabbed a livery cab driver.
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