Heroic Restaurateur Nabs Loon Wielding Knife on Subway

Ronny Jaramillo, Chela (Images: Facebook, Chel;a)

It’s safe to go back to dining inside restaurants, according to the city Health Department. But getting there can carry serious risks, at least if the subway is your mode of transportation. The New York Times reports that subway arrests are up 54% over last year, with slashings and other forms of violent assault occurring frighteningly often.

One such crime was averted thanks to the actions of a plucky restaurateur en route to his own place of business. Ronny Jaramillo, who is opening a second branch of his Park Slope Mexican restaurant, Chela, in TriBeCa, was riding a downtown 1 train earlier this week when a man brandishing a 10-inch blade boarded and began threatening commuters.

“Everybody tried to be as far away from him as possible. He was waving the knife at everybody,” Jaramillo told the New York Post. When the deranged man exited the train at Franklin Street, Jaramillo followed him out of the station. “I was afraid that he was going to another train station and might possibly actually start stabbing people now,” he told The Post.

As the men walked, Jaramillo dialed 911 and soon after was intercepted by an NYPD van. He pointed out the suspect, who was taken into police custody. The man, identified as Hasuan Fernandez, 48, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, and disorderly conduct.

Chela, which is due to open soon, is Mexican Spanish slang for beer. According to the Tribeca Citizen, the restaurant’s mission “is to make everyone feel like they are on a Mexican vacation.”