© 2026 ABC News

Police said they were looking for a white male approximately 20 years old with blond wavy hair.

While diners were unharmed, at least one expert said law enforcement should be concerned that the man was able to both exit and enter the emergency subway gate without being captured.

Former FBI agent Brad Garrett said the event could be a good learning experience for authorities to understand how emergency services might respond in a similar attack.

\"It's clearly a wake-up call,\" said Garrett, an ABC News contributor. \"When you get into a city of the size of New York or even just the one borough of Manhattan, you literally cannot cover every single avenue. You do the best you can and try to learn from every situation and figure out where you have a vulnerability.\"

He pointed out that New York City has hundreds of miles of subway tunnels.

\"The first thing the NYPD and the subway transit police are going to have to look at is the vulnerability of the subway tunnel system,\" he said. \"How did this guy get into the system? How he did he move for I'm going to say a number of minutes undetected and then exit the subway system?

The New York Police Department Public Information Office told ABC News they had no updates on the case or whether added security will be used to protect subway emergency exits.

Staff at both Bar Pitti and Da Silvanos declined to discuss the incident.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/US/man-throws-smoke-bomb-diners-escapes-subway-hatch/story?id=26126520","legacySlug":"/news/story/man-throws-smoke-bomb-diners-escapes-subway-hatch-26126520","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"20:22","publishDate":"10-11-2014","updatedTime":"14:41","updatedDate":"10-12-2014","socialImage":{"alt":"Police are searching for a man who threw a smoke bomb and then disappeared into a subway grate. ","credit":"New York Police Department","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/HT_nypd_smokebomb_1_jt_141011_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"10/11/2014 20:22:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":26126520,"headline":"AC","mediaAssetTitle":"MOHNEY_smoke_Bomb_Prankster_Disappears_Subway_Grate_141011","description":"An unidentified man was caught on video emerging from New York subway hatch.","duration":"2:14","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/i/abcnews/2014/10/141012_gma_mara_709_,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["24890376","23566119","26136542"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"video","date":"August 7, 2014","headline":"Broadway Cast of 'The Lion King' Surprised New York Subway Riders","section":"news","slug":"/video/24890376","id":24890376,"image":{"alt":"Broadway Cast of 'The Lion King' Surprised New York Subway Riders","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/140807_dvo_lk_full0_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"May 2, 2014","headline":"NYC Subway Train Derails in Queens","section":"news","slug":"/video/23566119","id":23566119,"image":{"alt":"NYC Subway Train Derails in Queens","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/wabc_subway_derail_140502_4x3_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"October 12, 2014","headline":"NYC Smoke Bomber Raises Terror Concerns","section":"news","slug":"/video/26136542","id":26136542,"image":{"alt":"NYC Smoke Bomber Raises Terror Concerns","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/141012_gma_mara_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"AC","description":"An unidentified man was caught on video emerging from New York subway hatch.","duration":"2:14","uploadDate":"10-11-2014","publication":"10-11-2014","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/i/abcnews/2014/10/141012_gma_mara_709_,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/i/abcnews/2014/10/141012_gma_mara_709_,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/man-throws-smoke-bomb-diners-escapes-subway-hatch-26126520"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132738086","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132714218","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132701634","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132706335","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132675442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132665875","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132628890","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132569874","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132567885","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132510121","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132473181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132497933","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"AC","pubTime":"16:22","pubDate":"10-11-2014","modTime":"10:41","modDate":"10-12-2014","taxonomyTags":"none","id":26126520,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"AC","mediaAssetTitle":"MOHNEY_smoke_Bomb_Prankster_Disappears_Subway_Grate_141011","videoId":26126520,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/man-throws-smoke-bomb-diners-escapes-subway-hatch-26126520"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/26126520","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/26126520","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};