Police have arrested Joel McCray, 53, and charged him with choking and robbing a man in the Ramble on July 30 around 10 p.m. McCray was charged with one count of robbery and strangulation, according to the Manhattan DA’s office. His girlfriend was charged with possessing stolen property, according to the Daily News. “The victim identified McCray out of a photo array, and police learned his and his girlfriend’s names by running the image through its facial recognition database.”
A police source told the Daily News that police believe McCray may also be responsible for other robberies in the park over the past year. There have been 22 robberies in the park this year through August 16, versus 12 through the same period last year, according to NYPD.
McCray’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
There’s a girlfriend involved in this. How can a woman love a strangler/robber? Also, isn’t she afraid that she may be his next victim? If she has kids, doesn’t she worry, not only about what the guy might do to them, but also who would take care of them if she’s harmed? What does she tell her relatives about what her boyfriend does for a living?
This is a violent crime and, generally, women are not associated with violence. Should I assume, then, that, on the graduating scale of feminine/masculine, she’s closer to the latter? I don’t know. I don’t know.
You’re joking right? Thugs come in a shapes and sizes. Men, women and transgenders all have the ability to be a thug. Some of the most violent incidents I’ve seen on the subway have been committed by women.
“Men perpetrate about 90 percent of the world’s homicides and start all of the wars.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/experiments-in-philosophy/201202/why-are-men-so-violent
There’s a lot of violence in this world D.R. , 10% of violent crime is perpetrated by women, that’s a substantial amount.
I add two points, Sam:
#1) Not “all” wars were started by men. The Iron Lady (Margaret Thatcher) started the Falkland Islands war.
#2) The hormone oxytocin — in combination with estrogen — renders women more nurturing and empathetic.
I greatly fear, though, that many will want to challenge this sentence from the link that I provide: “For all its positive benefits, high oxytocin inhibits cognitive ability by impairing learning and memory.”
https://www.darionardi.com/BulletinArt9.html
I do agree that men are more violent, that’s not up for debate. That being said there are plenty of women who tolerate (or find it sexy) if their significant other is a violent man.
This kind of thing happens all the time. Whether you’re in the Hells Angels, the Cosa Nostra, or the Bloods, you’ll have groupies.
re: …”there are plenty of women who tolerate (or find it sexy) if their significant other is a violent man.”
I would call that “the high testosterone factor”. Totally unscientific; just my hunch as a woman.
A more socially-assimilated paradigm for this is, in my opinion, Eliot Spitzer. He is *not* a nice man, but wildly attractive. There is a virility about him that’s very erotic.
Again, this is view is totally unscientific.
Any relation to Chirlane McRay (di Blasio)?
Will anyone dare ask?
Oops. “McCray”, not “McRay.”
No – ew. Our mayor’s wife is from Massachusetts. There really is no reason to think or insinuate what you’re saying. Most people are going to be pretty appalled.
As many other people have said, it really is a shame to see so many racist comments like these on this neighborhood website.
@ DMH – The “shame”? The shame is in denial and deliberate blindness to reality.
Off Duty wrote,
Hear, hear!
*what* reality am I blind to? That we’re looking at a mugshot of a suspect? The cops did a nice job apprehending him. I think the neighborhood is grateful and appreciative. He sounds like a real piece of work.
At the same time, we’re not looking at the mugshots of every suspect arrested for UWS crimes this week.
Agreed. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise, the blatant racism. But it still is. Good that you called it out.
thank you DMH and Joe Rappaport.
the racism on this site is a stain on the site… and it goes on and on. i am really happy to see a gathering outcry from what i consider “authentic” West Siders.
and “props” to Joe for posting with his name. the racists and haters are ALWAYS anonymous.
I’m wondering if any time a Clinton is arrested someone asks if he/she is related to Bill and Hillary? or any time a Kelly is arrested someone asks if he/she is related to the former police chief?
I can’t actually believe I’m agreeing with crazy liberal Bruce, but he’s right on this one. Come on guys, enough with the racist pot shots. While I agree there should be a robust discussion about the relationship between crime, race, and political correct responses, to imply that the mayor’s wife has anything to do with this because she and the perp share an ethnic identity and last name is blatantly racist and trolling. Come on UWSers, we are better than that!
If he were white and his name was diBlasio or Bloomberg would it be racist to ask if there was a relationship?
You have to believe that, if this woman was related to the mayor’s wife, it’d have come out quickly. This is the kind of question cops leak all the time. (And if they were related, so what?) If the suspect were named di Blasio or Bloomberg, you wouldn’t be asking the question, because you’d understand, as you don’t appear to understand here, that either the relationship would have been verified already or it’d be clear they weren’t related. So asking the question does come off as inappropriate for sure. And seems totally irrelevant to the story in any case.
I can tell you one thing, Old Judge: If the name were Giuliani, I would not expect to hear so much as a peep out of any of the same people expressing such moral indignation here. If anything, some of them might even cheer-on anyone who had asked whether a hypothetical criminal or alleged criminal with the same last name as the former Mayor was related. (And certainly, if the name were Trump or even Sessions, Santorum, Huckabee…you get the idea.)
Why do I say that?
See:
https://www.westsiderag.com/2015/02/19/13-year-old-ringleader-arrested-for-recent-uws-muggings#comment-262652
And then note the lack of response, save for mine:
https://www.westsiderag.com/2015/02/19/13-year-old-ringleader-arrested-for-recent-uws-muggings#comment-262713
Note that I really don’t mean to single-out the particular poster who made that comment. Especially since I found it to be one of the more honest and sensible ones. The point here is not her but what the obvious tolerance and de facto acceptance, by certain other people, of that one specific part of her comment, reveals about them.
And that is not the only example of blatantly selectivity when it comes to complaints of disgust and protestations of moral outrage over “venom”, “vitriol”, etc. in comments here. It all comes down to whose ox is being gored. Or, as Lenin put it: “Who, whom?” (Quoted by John Derbyshire in his August 28th Radio Derb podcast)
Oh please.
anyone who looks at a skeevy mugshot of a suspect arrested, and based on zero evidence apart from race and a common last name, begins by suggesting that the criminal is tied to the wife of any public official? Well, they’ve obviously got a partisan ax to grind.
I would say the same if we were looking at the mugshot of a Hanover or a Lee. It’s absurd.
Grow up!
Sadly, yes, some people will. Some people have minds that immediately go there. It’s sad and scary.
If convicted, put him in jail and throw away the key. This individual does not deserve to roam free in a civilized society. Maybe let him out in 25 years when he is 78 and can no longer physically harm others.
It looks like the girlfriend was also arrested a year ago for assault at Tillary Street Women’s Shelter. See https://fortgreenefocus.com/blog/2014/03/14/crime-report-choking-assaults-fraud-home-robberies.
it should be pointed out that the NYPD, under Bratton and (yes) De Blasio, has an incredible track record for making arrests in crimes reported on WSR. it seems like almost every case results in an arrest.
This is one reason crime is DOWN in NYC. yes, indeed, down. the “community policing” techniques used by our current Mayor and Police Chief are working… without the racial profiling used by the former Mayor and Police Chief.
it’s time to give some “props.”
Bruce, can you give us some stats to back this up
We know from the recent Times article that murders are up near double digits. Other crimes? Well, that old phrase from The Wire seems appropriate. “Juking the stats”.
So you believe the stats about murders, because it fits in with what you already believe, that crime is up. But the OTHER stats are made up. Of course.
Wow, that’s quite an inference based on nothing. The reason I believe murder stats is because they are hard to fake. You can’t knock a murder down to an assault. There’s the little problem of a dead body, the family and so on. Just about everything else you can soft pedal if you try. Not confirmation bias, just logical thinking (try it some time) and growing up with a dad who was a cop.
As involved as Avi is in running this great site, I’m surprised that he’s stayed silent for so long on the issue of these racist trolls. Doing nothing is still an action.
i think the endless racist invective on this site is an embarrassment to Avi, and in fact hurts the site. At the very least, it most certainly discourages the many African-Americans and Hispanics who live and work on the UWS from using this site. it tarnishes the comments section. it doesn’t represent what the UWS is like.
You have the demographics of the users in the comments section? Why do you feel as if minorities aren’t on this site? Feels like thinly veiled racism to me Bruce.
i think one would have to lack basic human compassion to not understand that African-Americans and Hispanics might, just might, be offended and not want to frequent a web site where many (though not most) of the commenters constantly belittle them and invoke negative stereotypes. you can always find a very few people who might like this. But the majority will be grossly offended, as they should be.
Do you think Jewish-Americans frequent web sites where many of the commenters are blatantly anti-semitic?
Anyone who has encountered intolerance online has more than likely dealt with it in their day to day life. You really think that certain minorities would get offended over comments posted by some schmuck on a comment section of the WSR?
I’m Jewish and every forum dedicated to sports,news, etc has intolerant people that are truly hate Jews, but why would I allow a few morons to keep me from getting to the web content that I enjoy.
I agree, though sadly, I think any website allowing anonymous comments has this problem. And a vigorous comment section generates clicks. It’s terribly sad and frankly, quite disgusting, but like Trump’s “candidacy,” I’m not sure what you can do about it (other than register your disapproval/outrage….which generates even more clicks….)
I have an idea for those of you who keep complaining about “racists” (give me a break, not EVERYTHING is racist, just because you don’t like it), trolls and anyone who dare speak against Da Mayor and for Stop and Frisk…start your own blog! I believe it’s still a free country with free speech, if you don’t like us here, go elsewhere.
Agreed. But then again that is the Liberal/Progressive way…they believe in free speech only when you agree with them!
Says the person agreeing with someone who just told people he doesn’t like that they should go to a different blog. Your lack of awareness is astonishing.
Exactly. The New Left began in the 1960’s with Mario Savio and the concept of free speech. Somewhere along the line it turned into the exact opposite.
He went to my High School.
You’re complaining about free speech because people you don’t like are exercising theirs? Baffling. No one is infringing on your free speech. People post racist nonsense here all the time and no one is stopping them. But guess what: calling out the racists is also free speech. Crazy concept, huh?
thank you.
We should have a campaign against racist speech on this site. maybe with a hashtag. It is appalling, sick, and does not represent the vast majority of UWS residents.
Totally agree. This private website isn’t under a first amendment obligation to host any irrational or offensive rhetoric.
Terms such as “racist trolls” and “racist nonsense” as used in this thread generally mean anyone who dares to challenge the official dogma on the matters-in-question.
See comment #5 by Siddhartha. Isn’t he (or she, as the case may be) suggesting that any number of comments that appear here should have been removed and/or some type of restrictive action be taken against those who post them by the owner of the site? That is how I understood that post. Certainly, others here have suggested exactly that. Would someone such as Bruce Bernstein even deny that he does so regularly, including in this very thread? He seems to be quite proud of calling for views that he deems unacceptable to be barred from expression.
I understood Vic S’s comment as being made in response to the above; in response to those who would indeed censor and ban views that they deemed to be “racist”.
Context is everything, as someone from back in my Usenet days was fond of reminding people.
I don’t think you grasp the proper usage of [sic]. In any case, yes, it seems comment #5 is urging Avi to ban racist comments. I don’t really agree with that, but that would be up to Avi. This is a privately owned website, so he can do whatever he wants. It’s still not infringing on your right to freedom of speech as an American.
you can “speak up” for “Stop and frisk” all you want. but don’t kid yourself. as implemented under Bloomberg, it was a racist practice.
it is inaccurate to call it “stop and frisk”, as that practice still exists under De Blasio. it was actually “racial profiling stop and frisk”… where people were S&fed based upon race. and this is what the court found unconstitutional. which it was.
you’re free to argue that racist practices that are common — cabs not picking up African-Americans, double standards in sentencing, racial profiling S&f, and so on — are not really “racist.” hell, white supremacists have always argued that, going back to the Civil War.
you can argue that, but you are only fooling yourself.
i want to clarify that my last comment was not aimed at UWS-er but at the comments a few items above his/hers.
This is ridiculous. For anyone on here that’s been squawking about others’ racist remarks, if you were walking down a quiet street late at night, you can’t tell me you would be as comfortable with a African American walking towards you as you would be with a Caucasian.
Oh good grief. What on earth has this to do with anything we are discussing?! After a particularly vicious mugging outside my (very safe?) doorman building, by a stupid teenager of color, yes, I’m quite nervous coming home late at night and being followed…by young men. Old people? Women? Of any color? No problem. But young men, of any color, make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. And yet I recognize this has nothing to do with the mayor’s wife and any lame attempt to link her to a criminal. Oh, and btw, this occurred under Bloomberg, for what it’s worth.
OMG Are you referencing the 1980s? This kind of fear went out ages ago. Next you’ll be telling us that you don’t wear jewelry on the subway. It really doesn’t look like the movie Death Wish around here any more. You need to get out.
Gee. The last time I saw Joel McCray he was in a production of CAROUSEL.
Actually that was Gordon McRae.
Is there any jazz vocalist alive today (male or female) who is as great as Carmen McRae was?
(Or Betty Carter or Abbey Lincoln? I’m not the only one who believes that they were the last truly great jazz singers.
On The Question of The Propriety of Asking Whether Mayor DiBlasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, Is Related To The Individual Pictured On This Page Just Because The Two Share a Last-Name
First, we need to determine how logical such a question is. And that would appear to depend upon how common the name-in-question is among black Americans. If common enough, then the question asked by “Old Judge” would probably not be too logical. And to publicly ask such a question could very well (legitimately) be considered rude and gratuitously hostile.
In order to be considered “racist“, however, the shared race of the subjects-in-question would have had to have been the basis for the asking of the question. I see no evidence for that here, where the motivation appears far more likely to have been one of simple dislike for the Mayor’s wife (and likely the Mayor himself, as well).
IN DEFENSE OF ANONYMITY
A Response to Bruce Bernstein and Others.
There are any number of perfectly legitimate reasons for posting anonymously. Included in these is protection for those expressing unpopular views. Viewpoints, arguments and information do not lose validity merely on account of being published anonymously.
Anonymous publishing and commentary has a long, venerable tradition that includes The Federalist Papers and whistle-blowing of corporate as well as government crimes and abuses.
You would prefer that those who dare to defy the particular orthodoxy that you adhere to (and take it upon yourself to try to enforce) always identify themselves when doing so. In many cases, doing so would subject them to all kinds of risks, including that of suffering harassment as well as real danger to one’s livelihood and even life itself.
Remember, it is in order to protect the expression of unpopular views and even ones that may be considered repugnant and hateful, that laws and principals to protect freedom of speech are necessary. No one objects to speech that they find agreeable.
———
Assuming “Bruce Bernstein” is, in fact, your real name (which I do not know for a fact but have no particular reason to doubt), then I have to at least give you some credit here, though. For, incredibly, I have now seen several posters here who, at most post with a first-name and last initial-only and yet have the nerve to condemn others for posting anonymously(!). Memo to said individuals: Hello?! What do you think you’re doing, if not posting anonymously? In one case, a certain individual who himself posts under a nickname-only yet dares to castigate others for doing the same, responded to someone who called him out on such glaring hypocrisy by insisting that the nickname he uses was his real name. Now, it could very well contain his real first name. And it could very well be that those who know him, know him by his nickname. But that still leaves him anonymous to everyone else, i.e. all those who do not know him.
It’s 2015 and there are a lot of crazy people in this world. It’s a terrible idea to use your FULL name on publicly facing websites, which is why no one does it (with one exception).
Using a real name when you own a condo/co-op in NYC is foolish. All it takes is a 2 minute search on public records to find an address and an apartment number.
I am a westsider and have been for over 40 years.I raised my children here and they attended the schools in the district. No they have never been arrested and have grown into law abiding successful adults. I am also black and Cuban-American by birth. The racist and pro-racist comments on this site, flow off of me as does water off a ducks back. Since they do not put food on my table or a roof over my head, racists are of little consequence in my life and I deal with them, when they attempt to get in my face. I read West Side Rag and will continue to read it. As I find it informative of what is happening in my neighborhood. I find it amusing the need for some to shout their racist rhetoric in the hope that someone will pay them attention.
Race! Racist! Race! Racist! Race!
Enough with this race baiting and accusations.
We still live in a country where freedom of speech exists.
When we get to the point where one can not say words that are not meant as racist, yet are seen by others as such, and are asked to STFU, we will be in big trouble.
And, I am afraid that it’s becoming so, especially from the left, who fought hard for the freedom to speak, yet are so uptight about being PC that they shut down the ones they don’t agree with.
Enjoy Labor Day, and calm down, everyone.
What racist comments? This site is moderated and generally deletes comments that are “racist”. The left fought against censorship for decades and now the PC police are worse than ever. The commenters here who want people banned and are angry over “racist” comments are pathetic. If you don’t agree 100% with the agenda they want you silenced or banned. The black/Cuban woman talks about racists. Yes the UWS is a hotbed of racism. SMH. The only racism I see or hear are shelter/project blacks screaming racist/homophobic comments or committing crimes against people of different races. But people who comment here are racists. Pathetic.
What racism? Is it racist to discuss reality? We all know which group commits the crime and which groups are the victims. Why is that racist? This is political correctness gone mad. We cant discuss who commits all the crimes and what they look like and where they probably live. The racists arent the criminals doing the beating, robbing, and raping. Oh no. Its the victims whonare racist. What is wrong with you people?