3 NYC subway stabbings in one day
NEW YORK - Three people were stabbed Saturday in the New York City subway system late Saturday as authorities continue to struggle to get a handle on the violence plaguing the trains.
A 20-year-old woman was punched and then stabbed three times in the abdomen at the Van Siclen Avenue station in Brooklyn and was taken to a hospital, where she was stable.
A man was stabbed in the leg Saturday night at the 168th Street station in Washington Heights during a robbery attempt, and shortly afterward a 31-year-old man was stabbed in the arm at the 116th Street station near Columbia University after asking a man and woman to move because they were smoking, police said.
No arrests have been made in either case.
On Friday morning, 44-year-old Lateef Coleman was taken into custody for stabbing a 22-year-old break-dancer on the L train.
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The rash of attacks comes as Mayor Eric Adams moves to crack down on transit crime and homelessness.
"People tell me about their fear of using the system, and we’re going to ensure that fear is not New York’s reality," Adams said in a Friday press conference.
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According to the NYPD, transit crime jumped an astounding 75.2% in January, compared to the same time in 2021.
40-year-old Michelle Alyssa Go was killed when a homeless man with a history of mental illness pushed her in front of an oncoming train at the Times Square Station on January 15th.
Adams will deploy more police officers, clinicians, and social workers to subway stations across the five boroughs to connect homeless people with mental health services and housing.
Robert Cornegy Jr., former Brooklyn Council Member and current Executive Vice President of External Affairs at the Doe Fund, applauds the Mayor’s ambitious plan.
"Him having teams of people go out, which is what we screamed at NYPD for years, to make sure that there were clinicians that were present to also help assess what's happening; is a great start," he mentions.
The initiative will also direct police officers to enforce MTA rules, including criminal and non-criminal offenses like sleeping onboard trains and carrying piles of trash.
Some are skeptical that police enforcement will ramp up overnight, while housing goals may take longer to implement.
Others, like Mark Hurwitz, Chief Operating Officer of Urban Pathways, says it’s all about fair and transparent outreach.
"The components of successful outreach to a homeless person are developing trust, assessing their needs and getting them as soon as possible to a place that they're willing to accept where they can work on longer term solutions," he explains.
A total of 600 new psychiatric beds and five-hundred new supportive housing slots will come online with the help of roughly $40M in state funding.
With the Associated Press.