NYPD data: NYC subway slashings spike 35%
5 Min Read
Slashing and stabbing operations in the city's subway system are on the rise.
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How effective is Mayor Adams' plan to clean up NYC's dangerous subway system?
The operations have soared 29% last year to 182 from 141 incidents in 2020, and the bloodshed continues with 27 incidents so far this year, up 35% in the same period last year.
On February 12, Kevin Young was at the Union Square station platform on East 14th Street when he accidentally bumped into a man at around 5:45 am, who slashed Young behind the ear, face, and hand.
“Subway crime is out of control,” fumed Young, 36, to The Post.
The Manhattan man was heading to his work to start his 6 am shift at Trader Joe’s in Union Square when he tried to step off a southbound train as his assailant forcefully boarded pushing him to the inside and preventing him from deboarding.
“He’s trying to get on the train and I’m trying to get out and after a shoving match he goes for his blade,” Young recalled. “I tried to defend myself as much as possible. As soon as I held him down, he got his blade and went to work.”
The suspect sliced the left side of Young’s face “from my sideburns going to my left ear… He cut my fingers and I lost strength and control,” Young said. “I told him, ‘I just want to go home.'”
Following the attack, Young – stunned, bleeding, and exhausted – headed to a nearby kiosk stumbling “and the MTA guy saw me bleeding and in hysteria,” Young said.
He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, and it required 25 stitches to close his wounds. He also underwent surgery at Bellevue on Thursday to deal with nerve damage in his left middle finger.
“And I have to get pin plates inserted into my right index finger so the bones could grow back,” he groaned.
His unknown assailant is still on the loose. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, black jeans, black Adidas bag, and eyeglasses, police said.
“I just think it’s disgusting how crimes like this can happen to a person,” Young said. “There should be more cops in the subways. There is a stigma against the police. They need to maintain safety and they need to be aggressive. Let them do their jobs.”
Young’s encounter was not the first, and will sure not be the last. Four days prior to Young’s attack, a 39-year-old woman was slashed in the forehead with a boxcutter by another woman on a southbound Manhattan train.
Experts considered that bail reform, which keeps repeat offenders on the streets, and authorities mostly ignoring turnstile-jumping and the homeless and emotionally disturbed living in the labyrinthine subway system is a recipe for disaster.
“For criminals, the subway is target-rich and escape from detection and arrest is easy,” said Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective who is now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “The transportation is built in.”
Alcazar said disbanded teams like the homeless outreach unit in the NYPD “provided an invaluable service to identify the people that needed assistance. I question what happened to all the monies that was set aside by the previous administration to provide assistance for the homeless population.”
Another John Jay professor, Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant, said, “When I was a cop, I always feared sharp instruments more than guns. They’re easy to get, easier to conceal, and cause lots of damage. … One simple solution is to enforce turnstile jumping again, but half of the City Council will lose their minds. The NYPD is in a no-win situation.”
On Friday, Mayor Eric Adams outlined his plan to clean up the city’s increasingly dangerous subway system. The initiative features teams of school nurses, outreach workers, and cops ready to convince homeless people and the mentally ill to accept help.
New York City will begin removing homeless people from subways at night
— Auto News Feed (@auto_news_feed) February 19, 2022
Via The Guardian - World : Fri, 18 Feb 2022, 20:52:56 GMThttps://t.co/J99BidpiO3
Slashing victim Young had this message for Mayor Adams, “Do what’s best for the people to ensure there is safety. If there should be a cop in every subway car and on every platform. So be it.”
Last week, at least 11 people were injured in a stabbing incident in Albuquerque, the largest city in the US state of New Mexico, the city's police department confirmed.
The local police tweeted that its "officers are investigating 7 possible scenes - stretching from Downtown to Central and Wyoming - with reports of 11 stabbing victims."
Violent attacks have been increasing in the US, as besides stabbing sprees, mass shootings ravage the country on a daily basis, with nearly 20,500 dying of gun violence in 2021 alone, more than 300 of which were children, a hike from 2020.
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2021: Gun violence surges in the US
