What you should know
- A group of activists in New York City has a press conference scheduled in front of Governor Kathy Hochul’s office in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon in response to the recent wave of violence on the subway system.
- Responding to plans for a major Hochul announcement on subway violence, advocacy group Passengers United says transit riders and MTA employees want real solutions to subway crime after several violent incidents on the subway. system.
- According to a statement, the group of activists propose changes that they say would help mitigate the problem of underground violence.
NEW YORK — A group of activists in New York City have a press conference scheduled in front of Governor Kathy Hochul’s office in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon in response to the recent wave of violence on the subway system. .
Responding to plans for a major Hochul announcement on subway violence, advocacy group Passengers United says transit riders and MTA employees want real solutions to subway crime after several violent incidents on the subway. system.
Passengers United say cameras will not solve ongoing crimes and therefore proactive policing is needed and repeat offenders are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. According to a statement, the group of activists propose changes that they say would help mitigate the problem of underground violence:
WAVE OF VIOLENCE IN NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM
This protest comes amid a wave of violence in the New York City subway system. This past weekend, a 64-year-old man checking his phone was thrown onto the subway tracks at New York’s Penn Station, the latest in a series of violent incidents to plague the transportation system in recent weeks, they say. The authorities.
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in the kick to the back that landed the man on the northbound A/C/E tracks shortly before 5 pm on Sunday. The man had been looking at his phone on the platform when he was kicked from behind him and fell to the ground, authorities say.
He was helped off the tracks and taken to a hospital for treatment for injuries that included pain in his back, right leg, shoulder and arm. Medical staff told investigators that the victim would undergo a CT scan and x-rays to evaluate the extent of his injuries.
No arrests have been made. Investigators say the suspect was dressed all in black and was wearing sunglasses.
Last week, a subway driver was stabbed in the neck in Brooklyn, a 27-year-old woman was slashed in the hand in Manhattan, and a 61-year-old man was stabbed in the stomach in the Bronx in three unrelated traffic incidents. violence within 36 hours. A recent trio of homicides also made headlines.
MTA officials have condemned the series of violence. The Transit Workers Union criticized the MTA after the attack on the driver, saying the incident was “a horrific example of the epic, decades-long failure by the MTA and Chairman Janno Lieber to protect transit workers.”
Authorities arrested three suspects wanted in connection with the murder of a 45-year-old subway user before the start of his commute last Friday morning. Rafael Pujols with the details.
“We stand ready to help Local 100 as they confront this plague of violence, and the transit executives who are inept or indifferent to the harm inflicted on their own employees day and night,” said TWU President John Samuelsen. “When it comes to workplace safety, the MTA has been an abysmal failure. Assaults against transit workers on the subway increased nearly 60% last year. Unlike Lieber, transit workers “They don’t travel with a dedicated, armed MTA police squad.”
The union pleaded with the MTA to deploy members of the agency’s 1,000-member police force — officers typically seen on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad — to begin patrolling the city’s subway lines.
Recent data from the NYPD paints a worrying picture: 2023 saw the highest number of assaults on the subway since at least 1996. During that year, there were 570 assaults, which is a slight increase from the previous year and an average of about 1.5 incidents daily.
But NYPD Traffic Chief Michael Kemper says progress is being made. An infusion of 1,000 more officers into the subway system, done in direct response to the spike in crime in January, led to a 17% reduction in crime in February, Kemper said.
Although so far this year, crime in the subway continues to increase by 13% compared to 2023, and attacks on the transportation system increased by 11%. NYPD Transit Police are investigating 86 assaults, up from 77 last year. And three homicides in the first two months of the year mark a worrying start, especially compared to 2023 right now, when there were none.
2024-03-05 19:42:58
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