A stranger stabbed a 42-year-old man during an early Wednesday clash just blocks from Times Square, police said.
The victim was knifed once in the chest just after 2 a.m. outside a building on West 42nd Street near Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, a storefront shared by a Chinese restaurant and a pizzeria, cops said.
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition, authorities said.
The victim told investigators that prior to the attack — which also occurred about a block from the Port Authority Bus Terminal — he was making a purchase at a drug store, law enforcement sources said.
The two men did not know each other, but had been bickering before the violence erupted, according to the sources.
It was not immediately clear what started the fight.
The assailant, who was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants, fled the scene, police said.
The attack happened in the confines of the NYPD’s Midtown South Precinct, which include Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.
Felony assaults are down by about 15 percent so far this year within the precinct’s boundaries, according to data updated Sunday.
Misdemeanor assaults dipped by around 6 percent during the same time period, the statistics show.
