Danny Aguiar, 22, was stabbed in the midback and shoulder Wednesday when he tried to shield Monea Simmons, 23, from a crazed assailant on an uptown C train in Manhattan.

"What kind of person would hit a pregnant woman?" he told the Daily News yesterday from his Phillipsburg, N.J., home.

Both Aguiar and Simmons, who is four months pregnant and was knifed once in the left shoulder, suffered only minor injuries during the random attack.

Cops quickly collared Edward Murphy, 41, of the Bronx, after they scoured the uptown A train on which he made his getaway.

"I could have been paralyzed. I could have been killed," Aguiar said. "He could have killed her kid."

Aguiar and Simmons were visiting a friend in upper Manhattan about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when Murphy pushed his way onto the packed subway car at W. Fourth St.

He allegedly locked eyes with Simmons and yelled at her, "What the f--- are you looking at?" according to Aguiar.

Just as Aguiar asked his companion if she knew the strange man, Murphy lunged at her, punching her twice in the face, Aguiar said.

Aguiar, a clerk at a Jersey City warehouse, leaped to protect his friend, pushing himself between the two and bashing Murphy's head into the door. He then felt a pain in his back but didn't realize he was stabbed until he saw blood dripping from the wound on Simmons' shoulder.

As witnesses backed away from the melee, the subway doors opened and Murphy took off into the 14th St. station - with Simmons also in pursuit.

"She's the bravest pregnant person I ever met," Aguiar said of Simmons.

Murphy got on an A train, but cops were able to nab him from Simmons' description. He was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

Aguiar's fiancée, Laura Goodreds, was proud of him but unnerved by the puzzling attack.

"I'm scared for him to take the train now," she said.

With Alison Gendar