A
Scarsdale teacher has been being honored for his heroic act on a New York City
subway.
New York City Mayor Eric
Adams declared Tuesday “John Catania Day,” and
gifted Catania with a proclamation to honor the heroism he displayed on a
subway back in November.
"You showed moral and
physical courage when you swiftly came to the aid of a young woman who was
being attacked with a bladed weapon," said Adams.
Catania, 29, a Scarsdale art
teacher, was riding a southbound L train around
10:30 p.m. on Nov. 22 when a homeless man followed 28-year-old Diamond
Phillips, and slashed her on the forehand, and the hand and made anti-Muslim
statements. "I saw someone get attacked,
and it was very violent out of nowhere, and someone needed to do
something," said Catania.
That “someone” turned out to
be him. "I was standing there, it fell on my shoulders I guess. I mean
everyone else kind of jumped away..I mean what else do you do?"
Catania intervened, and was
himself struck in the head, needing 26 staples to close the wound. "I think we all see these
videos of crimes happening. Sometimes the
most alarming thing in these videos, is all of the people just kind of standing
around, like ‘wait there's a whole train of people, a
bunch of grown men not one person stands up?’ and John was one
of those people that stands up," said Taher Alhadi,
of the Muslim-American Society of New York.
"I just tried to do my
best, tried to intervene and stop any more violence," said Catania.