Pictured: New Jersey father randomly stabbed in the neck six times by silent stranger while he waited for his carpenter co-worker friend at Port Authority bus terminal

A New Jersey father who was randomly stabbed in the neck six times while he waited at a bus stop has been pictured for the first time.

Carpenter Daniel Salvatore, 66, was reading a book at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan when a knife-wielding stranger silently ambushed him during the Monday morning commute to work. 

Cops identified the man as Michael McCloskey, 42, and Salvatore said he did not say a word in the moments before he allegedly launched the 'deranged' attack. 

'I should have been dead,' Salvatore told The New York Post from his hospital bed. 'I got 46 stitches and I'm very thankful I'm still here.' 

While spending his 66th birthday recovering from the trauma in hospital on Tuesday, Salvatore added that 'something needs to be done' about the 'mentally ill' people on the Big Apple streets. 'It's very unsafe here,' he said. 

Carpenter Daniel Salvatore (circled) was reading a book at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan when a knife-wielding stranger silently ambushed him during the Monday morning commute to work

The terrifying random attack happened at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan

The carpenter, who has three children in their 20s, had been waiting for a bus to take him to work when McCloskey allegedly stabbed him eight times in the neck and arm just before 6am.

Salvatore said he has been taking the same journey from New Jersey to Manhattan for five years, and he stops at the Midtown bus terminal to wait for his coworker. He routinely reads a book while waiting at the stop. 

On Monday he was flicking through I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger, a novel he'd been bought as a birthday present, when the attacker pounced. 

'I was just sitting there reading and someone came up from my blindside, on the right side, I saw him, turned, just saw his face, and all of a sudden the knife went in my neck,' Salvatore told the Post. 

'He didn't say anything,' Salvatore added. 'The detectives asked if I bumped into him or said anything to him and I said, "No, nothing, I didn't see this guy at all, I was just minding my own business reading a book."'

Salvatore was knocked to the ground during the attack and attempted to crawl away while McCloskey allegedly continued to stab at him. 

'I finally broke away from him, I broke the hold, and there was blood everywhere,' Salvatore told the Post. 

He said that while blood was 'pouring' from his neck, he ran into a nearby Dunkin' Donuts where stunned patrons tried to block his wounds with napkins. 

'I started going out, getting lightheaded, because of all the blood I lost,' Salvatore told the Post.  

Pictured: Police officers patrol in the passageway connecting New York City's Port Authority bus terminal and the Times Square subway station

New Yorkers say their city is becoming a more dangerous, worse place to live, a survey by the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) reveals

EMTs rushed to his aid and took him away in an ambulance, while cops managed to cuff his attacker at the scene. 

Salvatore, who is Christian, said he believes God intervened in the stabbing to save him. 

'I’ve got two lines here, slash marks, but it never penetrated,' he told the Post, while pointing to cuts on his neck. 

'I’m thinking the Lord pushed [McCloskey’s] hand away from me.

'A detective told me if one cut was a little lower and deeper, I’m bleeding out. I am very fortunate.'

Salvatore even empathized with his attacker, saying New York needs to do more for mentally ill people who end up on the street. 

'The guy was probably very mentally disturbed, I feel sorry for the guy, but he needs to be kept locked up so he doesn’t do this to anyone else — if he’s that deranged,' he told the Post. 

'There is a problem with the mentally ill — you see them in Port Authority, Penn Station, on the streets, taking to themselves. 

'Something needs to be done. It’s very unsafe here in New York City.' 

Mayor Eric Adams has struggled to live up to campaign promises of tackling crime, safety, and rat infestations in New York City. Residents feel it is becoming a more dangerous place to live

And Salvatore's assessment of the city reflects the general view held by New Yorkers - as a recent survey shows most people feel it has become more dangerous in recent years. 

The share of residents who rate city life as good or excellent fell from 50 percent to 30 percent between 2017 and 2023, while one third of New Yorkers say quality of life is now poor, a survey by the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) revealed in March.

Residents feel much less safe in their neighborhoods than they did in 2017, especially on the public transport system.

The survey comes as Adams has struggled to live up to campaign promises of tackling crime, safety, and rat infestations, amid a surge in migrants that's draining city coffers of billions of dollars.

Andrew Rein, the research group's president, said the survey revealed a 'stark reality that [residents] clearly rate the quality of life and quality of city services as not good.'