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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Taxi Driver Slashed in Face by Uptown Passenger, Police Say

By  William Mathis and Carolina Pichardo | February 16, 2016 11:12am 

 A taxi driver was slashed in the face by his passenger at West 159th Street and Amsterdam Avenue at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday February 16, 2016.
A taxi driver was slashed in the face by his passenger at West 159th Street and Amsterdam Avenue at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday February 16, 2016.
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WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A taxi driver was slashed across his face by a passenger in early Tuesday, according to the NYPD. 

The livery cabdriver told police he was dropping off passenger Leolyn Rowe, 45, at West 159th Street and Amsterdam Avenue on Tuesday at 1:30 a.m., when Rowe pulled out a knife and started slashing him, officials said.

Rowe cut the driver's face, head and arm, prosecutors said.

Police arrested him nearby and he was arraigned Tuesday night on assault charges, officials said. Rowe, who was born in Jamaica, was held on $50,000 bail and due back in court on Friday, officials said.

The victim, who was not identified, was taken to Harlem Hospital and given 60 stitches, prosecutors said.

There was nothing to indicate a motive behind the attack, police sources said. Rowe had no prior arrests, the NYPD added.

The incident was the latest in a series of slashings that have taken place across the city in recent months. There were six subway slashings in January, a 100 percent increase from last year when there were only three, police said.

Knife-wielding strangers have randomly attacked people on the subway and on the street.

One victim was a 71-year-old woman who was on her way to work on a Manhattan-bound D-train on the morning of Jan. 25 when a man slashed her face at the Broadway-Lafayette station. 

Another victim was slashed in the face while standing outside a Chelsea diner on Jan. 6.