Metro

Boozy onboard party led to subway slays

The two subway riders fatally stabbed along the downtown 2 line were attacked during a rowdy “train party” — a fast-growing epidemic where youths, packing booze, smokes and sometimes weapons, take over a subway car in “wilding” episodes long after the bars have closed.

“It’s like something from the bad old days of New York,” a law-enforcement source told The Post.

That’s the kind of underground chaos knife-loving Brenddy Garcia and his four friends ran into Sunday morning — only this party ended with the 19-year-old Garcia wildly jabbing his blade after a 40-ounce beer bottle was smashed over his head.

He was held without bail after his arraignment yesterday on murder and assault charges.

The wild party he and two pals stumbled upon happen spontaneously on moving trains, leaving police scrambling to keep up as their ranks diminish.

“The police force is getting thinner, a thinning blue line of coverage, and you can’t be in every car,” a law-enforcement official said.

As the NYPD’s ranks get smaller, the department has relied increasingly on sending officers to stations during high-crime periods. New York City Transit has also been eliminating station booths.

Last Sunday, the group of 12 to 13 thugs that included the stabbing victims spent most of the night drinking and terrorizing people in Midtown.

At the Duane Reade at 40th Street and Broadway, some of them climbed on 6-foot-high theft detectors near the entrance as others yelled loudly around the store, three employees said.

They then joined the rest of the group. The plan was to board a downtown 2 train with 40-ounce beers and have a “train party” on the way home.

The young men harassed several passengers, and eventually zeroed in on Garcia and his four friends.

Garcia was smashed on the head by a bottle that shattered.

In the ensuing fight, one member of the partying group suffered a fatal stab wound to the liver, while another was mortally stabbed in the heart.

“They picked on the wrong people,” a source said.

Garcia taunted the two victims — Darnell Morrel and Ricardo Williams — “from the platform as the train left the station, and the two young men bled to death,” prosecutor John Veiga said at the arraignment.

He also said Garcia “reacted to a perceived act of disrespect in a grossly disproportionate manner.”

The 19-year-old criminal-justice student sobbed uncontrollably in the courtroom as he was read the charges.

Sources said they later recovered the folding knife he allegedly used in a sewer in Williamsburg, after he led them to it.

His attorney, Pam Roth, said Garcia acted in “self-defense” and was “not the aggressor.”

About 10 Garcia family members packed the courtroom. One woman yelled “I love you!” as he was being led away.

Additional reporting by Tom Namako and Larry Celona

murray.weiss@nypost.com