Photo by Amanda Moszkowski.
A 59-year-old man was found with a stab wound in his neck in Riverside Park around 83rd Street on Thursday around 8:25 pm, police said. Officers took a 34-year-old man into custody at West 87th Street and Riverside Drive, though charges were pending as of Friday morning.
The victim was taken by ambulance to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition, police said.
Police recovered a knife from the scene. It’s not yet clear what precipitated the attack. Police told ABC News the men had gotten into an argument.
Witnesses told detectives the attacker stayed at the scene, and hid in bushes until they pointed him out to police.
“’I was just about to go to the cops because I saw them pull up near the monument, I was just about to go to them and tell them that ‘Yo, there’s a guy in the bushes over there.’ Because he was roaming around here. I saw him twice,’” a witness said.
Update: Responding to a question about the fact that there have been two recent stabbings in the 20th Precinct, Deputy Inspector Timothy Malin said, “They are completely unrelated, arrests [were] made in both cases.”
Honestly, what is happening to this neighborhood??
It’s called the Diblasio effect
The CORRECT spelling is “de Blasio”.
Who recently gave up his presidential bid and now is back home to “save” NYC.
UMMM…but who will save NYC from HIM ??
I was hoping he would have quit by now but nope, he’s back for more!
The worst Mayor in the history of our magnificent city.
No, sorry but that distinction must go to Rudy.
Rudy? Who cleaned up Times Square and got rid of squeegee men? Who pursued the Italian mafia? Who was the only face of authority and calm on the morning of 9/11? THAT Rudy? Maybe you meant to write “Dinkins”.
I wonder on which side of “crime” you are for saying that
I really wonder, with the Citizen app alerts whether we are really seeing an uptick in crime or is it easier to report or are we all more sensitive to it.
Now that his presidential run is going into a residential run he can *really* focus on cementing his legacy in the city
The last mayor of Boston stock was so much better and primed for the national stage – where are you Mike?
Actually, maybe he was sent by the Red Sox
Completely explains it
I’m grateful of our strict gun laws. While crime is never good, it could have been much worse.
Oh yes!
It’s good to know that I probably will not get shot in Central Park thanks to gun control … but I will “just” get stabbed.
Trump’s hateful language plus the Mayor’s refusal to deal with quality of life issues and police the city has made the city a much angrier, unsafe place.
You are right Juan. Had Hillary won, this would never of happened.
We would not be living in Utopia if Hillary was president, and things were far from perfect before Trump, but Trump has created a culture of anger, of “us vs. them,” of “every man for themselves” where people feel OK acting out against those who they don’t like. He is an angry, nasty, evil man.
I would say that this does not represent the Republican Party, but given that they continue to enable him, I find them all guilty.
And please note that I am not holding the Democrats harmless. I think that deBlasio is a nightmare, but for very different reasons. The blame for most of the declines in quality of life in NYC largely rests with deBlasio. Everyone who wanted him as an antidote to Bloomberg failed to recognize what a great mayor Bloomberg was. The police force has been neutered, and though crimes are allegedly down, in reality, the city feels like a much less safe place.
Juan, I agree.
We’re slipping back to the ’80s
I understand the angst shown by some of the commenters- two on-street stabbings featuring critical injuries in the same week is highly unusual in the 20th Precinct. A few notes though:
-As of Monday, felony assaults were down in the 20th Precinct -8.6% YTD (53 vs. 58), so there has been no explosion in street violence.
-There was no connection between the two stabbings this week. I’m very concerned about the stabbings, but if there was a connection between the two – indicating a pattern – that would cause me GRAVE concern.
-Immediate arrests were made in both.
-One things that really deserves mentioning is that in each case, we may not have been able to catch the perpetrator without help from some amazing witnesses that reported the crimes and helped our patrol officers locate and identify the perps. On both Tuesday and Thursday, some amazing Upper West Siders stepped up and helped deliver justice in the wake of two violent incidents. On Tuesday in particular, a witness risked his own personal safety and followed the perpetrator while remaining on the line with 911. Each one of these stabbings was an unacceptable, violent tragedy, but they also featured one of the best qualities of the Upper West Side… it is a neighborhood packed with a lot of socially concerned people with good hearts that look out for each other. Personally, this is one of the reasons that I love policing in the 20th Precinct.
Thank you for all you do.
Anna and Jack
Riverside is simply not covered like Central Park – they don’t have the cops on the beat there. It’s such a gorgeous park – but 8:25pm? Really? The cyclists can whip right through us but pedestrians are vulnerable now. It just keeps cropping up on the crime reports. upper 70;s and the 80’s – or maybe my radar’s just up for that geography. Some states allow for Crime Report Mapping – NYC does not.
If anyone who is into GIS is interested, we do indeed allow for crime report mapping. You will find X and Y coordinates in the complaint report data sets in the NYC Open Data portal, found here:
https://data.cityofnewyork.us/browse?Dataset-Information_Agency=Police+Department+%28NYPD%29
You can also find the park crime data set here:
https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Public-Safety/NYC-Park-Crime-Data/ezds-sqp6
Increasing crime in our area may be due to the failed policy of de-institutionazation of the mentally ill. Brought to you by our so-called current “leaders”. They do not belong on the streets. There are a dozen in my area alone that I see often. They roam the streets/parks, and most are on medication/drugs, so when they are not medicated, may become violent. Overall, many are unpredictable.
The mentality ill were deinstitutionalized decades ago.
The stabbing on 81st was undoubtedly an argument between people who knew each other and don’t be surprised if Thursday’s was as well.
I reluctantly have to agree with you. The UWS between 90th and about 110th St. on Broadway has become more dangerous. There are people living in the streets, nodding out or just passed out. Every block has at least one resident camped out and aggressively panhandling. That is just on Broadway where I have been threatened twice in the past 3 month as I walk around my neighborhood doing errands. I blame DeBlasio and his failed homeless strategy.
Tuesday’s stabbing: “The two men involved are locals and knew each other…”
Thursday’s stabbing: “Police told ABC News the men had gotten into an argument.”
So just mind your business and don’t get into fights with your neighbors. This is a perfectly safe neighborhood if you aren’t picking fights!
We need more police presence in Riverside. I waited 25 minutes after placing a 9-1-1 call recently and gave up. The perpetrator had long fled (having watched me call the police as he exposed and engaged in vigorous private behavior in front of me). I don’t know if the police ever showed up but suspect there would be less threatening behavior if they were a regular presence in the park. A regular, attentive (not texting or watching videos) presence.