By Carol Tannenhauser
Police have released photos and video of a man wanted for questioning in an alleged assault that took place two weeks ago on February 5, on Broadway and 103rd Street.
An unidentified 55-year-old man told police he was walking past 2700 Broadway at approximately 2:40 in the afternoon, when an unknown man, 20 to 30 years of age, “blew smoke and waved a McDonald’s bag” in his face. The victim said he slapped the bag out of the man’s hands and walked away. “The man followed him and beat him up,” a police spokesman told WSR.
Police released a video of the incident below:
According to the police report, “…the victim was approached from the back by [an] unknown male individual who began to punch the victim causing the victim to fall to the ground. Once on the ground the individual continued to punch and kick the victim causing pain and bruising about the head and torso. The individual then fled on foot to parts unknown. EMS responded and transported the victim to an area hospital where he was treated for his injuries and released.”
The individual wanted for questioning in this incident was last seen wearing all dark clothing.
This was the second incident on Broadway in a three-day period. On February 2nd, a 53-year-old man was pushed to the ground and robbed of his cellphone on West 88th Street.
Call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) with information.
People just crossing the street or walk on by like it’s “normal.”
Like Trump’s excuse for a presidency, this is NOT NORMAL.
This has nothing to do w President Trump! This has everything to do w our do-nothing mayor who is not behind the police! Criminals now feel emboldened and crime is on the rise – go to a 20th precinct community night and you’ll realize all the incidents starting to happen again . DeBlahBlah is the worst mayor since Dinkins and that’s not a racist comment.
Don’t you think invoking the name of someone who is actually connected to this violence is warranted? You know, our mayor…
Oh, for actual crying out loud! Our mayor didn’t punch this guy. And I’m sorry you continue to be bitter that he isn’t a republican.
This mayor is responsible for creating an atmosphere of lawlessness that has contributed to criminals and thugs to act with impunity. His first step was neutering the NYPD. The State Senate drove the nail in the coffin with this insane bail reform.
Trump’s presidency is anything but normal but why it merits a mention here is beyond me. The perp here is to blame, along with local officials that seem energized by the idea of excusing such behavior under the banner of “justice”.
Houston, we got a problem! This is truly frightening – like circling back to the 70’s. Do pedestrians now need rear view mirrors to safely walk down the street? These days I get beep alerts on my Citizen app non-stop. Our elected officials need to come up with some solutions on the ground and stop worrying about building heights.
Even if this perpetrator is arrested, New York law requires him to be set free with no bail. This is the new law.
Thank your local Democratic politicians for bringing anarchy and brutality back to the streets of New York.
I am a registered Democrat and will never vote for a Democratic Governor, Mayor, City Council member, etc. again!
This is madness and our politicians hide behind armed bodyguards while we have to face random knife attacks and beatings on the streets of the UWS.
Ben David, wrong. This is a violent crime. You really, really need to understand the law before you criticize it.
Sorry, you are incorrect. Do you have a law degree? Read the court reports to see how many VIOLENT incidents fall under this new law!
This crime is not violent “enough” for New York to set any bail.
Please do explain how, if this guy happens to have the cash to pay bail, he would somehow be less dangerous. Lay it out for me.
Cash bail means nothing else than “we can hold poor people who get arrested without trial.” If you really think every person arrested for assault is a menace to society, needs to wait in a cell, etc., then you should think *everyone* should be denied bail. Your bank account has zero bearing on whether you’re a danger to those around you. Jeffrey Epstein could’ve paid any bail ever set.
Comparing the Epstein case to this in arguing bail amount is absurd. Just because they could both be set bail is like comparing apples to freaking iceberg lettuce because they are both roughly round in shape and can be found in the produce section.
You all are blind to the point. The point is there is an income and wealth gap in this country. Bail therefore affects black people significantly more than white people. If you think that’s a coincidence, look at all the federal policies that kept black people poor.
If you can’t come up with a better system, then a few people getting beaten up honestly seems like a reasonable price to pay vs perpetuating systemic oppression.
lmao letting people get beat up is your solution? Ask the guy that got his face kicked in as shown in the video above if he thought this was ‘a reasonable price to pay’. Better yet, try having your own face kicked in by a random dude and let us know then!
taifins: Really? Just a few insignificant people getting beaten up to prove a point? Do you get to choose who those people are? Who does? Maybe a lottery? Something worse? Maybe they can just wear victim badges for a day? Do you see how ridiculous this is? Your argument makes absolutely no sense — violence is violence.
you are a racist and a fool.
“a few people getting beaten up” is ok because of the US’s histopry of oppression??
I sort of commend you for voicing what most people know many black people actually think: that it’s ok for black people to victimize white people today because of the US’s history of oppression
“then a few people getting beaten up honestly seems like a reasonable price to pay vs perpetuating systemic oppression.”
Would you maintain the same sentiment if it were your children getting beat up? Your partner? Your parents?Seriously wondering.
There was never any oppression. If you don’t want to be subject to the corrections system or to bail laws, don’t commit a crime. It’s that simple. I’ve never committed any crimes, so I’ve never had to post bail. There’s an old saying about this: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”.
I am absolutely not okay with using mine and my family’s safety as some kind of payment for an alleged injustice. Eventually law abiding citizens will catch up with the times, and will begin carrying weapons. Is street violence really what you’re after?
You endorse randomized beating of people in the streets, because “we” have failed to come up with better system? Do you want to volunteer your elderly father for a beating?
And we are the ones who are blind?!
I haven’t heard your proposal for a “better system.”
@sarah
Here’s how. An assault like this occurs or the recent slashing in Harlem and is captured on security cameras. While there is a presumption of innocence, an arrest made on such evidence is likely pretty well founded (of course not infallible) and if the violence involved is egregious the judge can use their discretion to set bail high enough that the individual is unlikely to be able to pay the bond. Additionally, if there is a cash bond at stake and the individual or his family is at risk for that money there is likely a great incentive for the accused to show up at hearings and court dates. That is how bail encourages compliance and keeps violent people off the street.
Finally, your reading of the account fails to take into account that the attacker first hit the victim with the bag. This constitutes an assault and the victim who was struck from behind was fully justified in trying to fend off this aggression.
I think there are two separate issues here: 1) keeping someone who might cause additional violence off the street 2)ensuring someone shows up to future court dates. Regarding 1), people are still innocent until proven guilty, and only in extreme cases should someone be locked up for crimes they might commit. Even in cases where further violence might be a possibility, why does money ever factor into it? Either they are a risk, and keep them locked up, or let them go. Setting bail is basically having a judge play a guessing game as to their bank account, credit score, ability to borrow from friends, etc. to come up with a number that may or may not keep them off the streets. Do it or don’t, the financial position of the defendant shouldn’t play into it at all.
Regarding 2) This is a separate issue, and most evidence suggests that cash bail has little impact on Failure to Appear (FTA) rates. Studies generally show FTA rates can be more impacted by pretrial services, or improvement to communication (https://www.abajournal.com/lawscribbler/article/text_messages_can_keep_people_out_of_jail). Places that have largely done away with cash bail see FTA rates that are comparable, if not better, than most other large cities: “In Santa Clara County, which has taken steps to rely less on money bail and release more people pretrial, more than 95% of defendants reappear in court. Washington D.C. releases 94% of defendants pretrial, and 90% of them make their court dates.” (https://cjpp.law.harvard.edu/assets/BailReform_WEB.pdf)
This is just why cash bail might not be that beneficial. But on top of that there are huge downsides, which I think are fairly well tread.
All of this is not to say that there won’t at times be drastic examples (someone released who commits a violent act before their next court date), but these examples also occur with defendants out on cash bail all the time, and overall, as a system, I think it’s fairly clear that the costs fair outweigh the benefits.
Ted, I don’t necessarily disagree for violent offenders that are a high risk of committing a crime before trial dates. But I also think bail should play a role in it. If they are dangerous, keep them in custody. Why roll the dice by setting a dollar amount they may or may not be able to come up with?
BTW thanks for checking out those links! The texting thing I was just offering up as an example of changes that can be made to improve appearance rates. On the Harvard Law thing, I didn’t find it too one sided, but most of the research I found when I tried to learn more about this was either VERY opinionated in one direction or the other, or was simply over my head.
Interesting reading. Neither really deals specifically with violent offenders. The Harvard text is more a position paper than a research document and the authors have a clear bias toward a particular conclusion. The ABA article seems to simply say that text messages help appearance rates which doesn’t seem unreasonable.
The primary issue I have with penal reform and bail reform is what started as a reasonable policy position of not over incarcerating non-violent drug offenders has started to slide toward reducing curbs on violent offenders. This is a policy position I simply disagree with. I understand that keeping people in prison costs a lot of money but consider for a moment the flip side of releasing them. The people who fret about the tax burden are in all likelihood not the people who are going to be victimized. As usual the burden will fall on the communities that can least afford it.
Your arguments are interesting and clearly you have put a lot of thought into them. I am just not convinced that this will be a policy that benefits the most people over the long term.
NOT good, NOT okay, but let’s not lose our heads. According to the victim’s own account, this wasn’t a random unmotivated assault. Knock someone’s stuff out of their hands, you’re liable to find yourself in a fight.
Please note that the puncher would still be a chicken-bleep bleep-hole regardless of whether he could write a check for bail.
I don’t understand what your point is Sarah. So theoretically, if…’an unknown man, 20 to 30 years of age, “blew smoke and waved a McDonald’s bag” in YOUR face, how would you react to that? 😮
She would inhale deeply…aaah, the sweet smell of equality…
She would then proceed to engage the unknown man in a soul-baring dialogue about his circumstances, how he’s been slighted by Wall Street titans, and the deeply rooted bias in the judicial system, which causes him to seek atten..i mean, connection with his compassionate neighbors.
She would then apologize to him for the fact that he only had a McDonald’s bag to wave, and not one from Le Bernardin.
Lastly, she’d offer her card, and assure him she’d always pay his cash bail, if he’s ever detained.
Peter, I admire your way with words.
My wife was attacked completely unprovoked by two black men on 105th street and Amsterdam. She was body slammed into a wall. This was one week ago at 11:30AM in broad daylight on a beautiful sunny day. Please make sure you report any incidents to the NYPD.
I’m sorry, but WHY THE F would the “victim” have slapped the bag out of this guy’s hand? People are so strange. Yeah, the perp shouldn’t have blown smoke or, gasp, waved his McDonald’s bag (is this considered an aggressive move or something?), but seriously? This is a strange story.
Did you read the story and watch the video? As someone already asked, if a complete stranger approached you and blew smoke in your face how would you deal with that? If someone was waving a McD’s bag or anything in my face I’d assume my first reaction would be to get it away from my face. And no matter how that went down, does anything excuse the brutal attack? Knocking the man down and punching him, and then continuing to kick him in the upper body (or head)? I’m stunned by some of the things I read here!
Not strange at all. If some guy randomly, without provocation, blew smoke in my face and then tauntingly waved a wrapper (or whatever) close to my face, I would for sure want to smack the wrapper away from my face. Pretty much every guy I know would feel the same way. I might not if the guy seemed insane and menacing — as many street people do — but I sure as heck would want to.
I don’t see any slapping of the bag or blowing smoke in this video.
This incident scared me much more until I read that the victim knocked the attackers bag out of his hand. Sorry but that’s pretty aggressive toward someone who is clearly already exhibiting deranged behavior. If that happened to me I would have continued to walk at a hurried pace and avoided any confrontation. People shove me on the subway all the time and I do not shove back or call them out as this would very likely lead to some unfortunate confrontation. Read the situation people and act accordingly!
If someone is trying to antagonize you and then you knock the bag out of their hands, you should be aware you have just escalated the confrontation and act accordingly. Turning your back on them and walking away with your hands in your pockets is just lacking common sense.
This doesn’t mean the attacker wasn’t in the wrong.
Agree 100%. Deranged folks on the street and subway constantly exhibit unprovoked, menacing behavior that would ordinarily beg fro s response. But you never know what they would do if you do respond. Often they react violently. so my advice to people — resist the temptation to respond.
Wow! So we’ve become so accepting of this deranged behavior that we should learn to avoid any confrontation and just move along? It’s mind numbing how many people are defending the attacker. The guy doing the punching/kicking is justified because someone responded to his aggressive behavior? It’s ok to provoke and then attack but we shouldn’t do anything to defend ourselves, and on and on and on…I give up. Seriously, I give up. I’m sticking to dog and bagel stories.
HelenD – Nobody is defending the attacker. Far from it. The point is that often deranged [street] people become so violent, that you really need to be very skilled at fighting to consider responding to their provocations. There are many reported incidents of them pulling out knives, boxcutters etc. There are incidents of guns being pulled out when responding. The guy in the video appears to be very muscular as well. In no way should anyone excuse the behavior, but even police will tell you not to respond in these situations (other than call for help). The Tessa Majors incident is the worst imaginable result of putting up resistance. Most folks cannot handle themselves defensively in these situations and should do nothing that will provoke this type of response.
I say this from experience. I stood up to an aggressor on the street and after responding I got my ___ handed to me, and I am not a weak guy..
Stu, thank you for your response, I appreciate it. I find all of this extremely frustrating.
This is really awful and I agree its getting scary. Two daylight attacks on busy streets in safe areas. I would like to see a comparison to other neighborhoods. Is this also happening more in UES, Midtown, Downtown?
I almost sent a story to the WSR before I realized that I was reading about several unprovoked attacks in the Village. I would say that it’s not only happening on the UWS. 🙁
I want to say thank you to the WSR because honestly, you are the only news source I am aware of that regularly and accurately report on these incidents. It is disturbing that these violent crimes are on an uptick, but it is imperative that this continues to be accurately and neutrally reported on. I tried to share information with a group of women (ranging in age from 50s-70s) during a get together, regarding the recent attack of the man who was sucker-punched and robbed of his phone — I thought it would be important they know as they are in the community and the incident happened on the corner of where one of them lives — I was very surprised that they all waived it away and said that they don’t read the news because these stories are exaggerated and crime is not up etc etc. These are very educated women who are in the community turning a blind eye. WSR is doing a community service with their journalism by continuing to report what is transpiring in our neighborhood. I wish that these were not the facts, and that these incidents were not happening with the frequency they are, but until things change it is important we are all informed. I think it is very easy for people to take a theoretical esoteric socio-political stance, until you yourself are affected directly, either from personal experience or through someone you are close to. I wish people would become aware of what is happening and take measures to address this. It feels lawless nowadays. I urge everyone to attend the community board meetings — what else can we do? I ask this sincerely. A murder happened and that did not mobilize our Mayor or Police Force to real action…things seem worse than ever and I do not believe that is hyperbole or “chicken little the-sky-is-falling-thinking” — we have evidence of this. I wish that the “mainstream” media would also report regularly about these incidents so that more people could be informed. Until then, we all must accept that our safety is truly our own individual responsibility (more so than ever) and be as aware and cautious as possible. I don’t believe that this is a reasonable or acceptable standard of living in a civil society — that through the negligence of our governing bodies we must maintain a hypervigilant stance at all times in order to stay safe — but I have to accept this is how it is for now. Being a victim of any crime is psychologically awful, and being victimized violently is traumatic. Whether this man “should” or “should not” have knocked the bag out of the “alleged” assailants face when it was thrust in front of him isn’t really the point…again, we should all expect a *reasonable* ability to walk down the street and go about our business without people harassing us, getting in our faces, robbing us, assaulting us, etc.
Pls all come to tonight’s community meeting at the 24 precinct. Both events are in that command.
It is at 7pm at 151 west 100th street. Between Col and Amsterdam avenues at the precinct its self
Look at the people walking by.. What is wrong with everyone.. this is worse than the beating.
the bail system should ONLY BE APPLIED IN NON VIOLENT CRIMES! WHAT IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE,HAS COMMON SENSE GONE OUT THE WINDOW.. STEAL A LOAF OF BREAD OK.. BUT ASSAULT!!?
As members of a neighborhood, what can we do to help each other and not bicker between ourselves? How can we help our neighbors and not get vigilante about it? These things are happening in the light of day on a busy street! What can we do?
Some people are feeling entitled to beat others because of the political climate that liberals created. Liberals have whipped up a frothy frenzy of perceived injustice, focused on systemic oppression rather than individual responsibility, and worst of all, questioned the value and motives of law and order. This is not to say that there isn’t injustice and lots of it. But what the liberals have done to this country in response to Trump is close to insanity. Fwiw, I am most certainly not a Trump supporter and am a liberal all my life.
why is the video stopped abruptly just as the man is about to kick the man on the ground’s face in? is that editing for our protection?
Other then the first comment, is anyone else disappointed in how no one helped the guy on the ground? A jury can debate about context but a beatdown just isn’t ok. Maybe they screamed at the dude and it just wasn’t on tape but DANG. Based on experience, I’m more on the fight side of ‘fight or flight’ so maybe it is just me?
Yes, the perp is to blame here but…
Why, if someone who clearly is high and disturbed and waves a bag of food in your face, would you slap said bag of food out of that guy’s hand vs just walking away or around him?
As a native New Yorker, times are NOWHERE near as bad as they were in the 70’s and 80’s but people, be a little more street smart.