By Carol Tannenhauser
A 26-year-old man and his girlfriend boarded a northbound #2 train at Fulton Street on Wednesday night at around 11pm, an NYPD spokesperson told West Side Rag. Somewhere between there and the West 72nd Street station on Broadway, the perpetrator in this story started “making advances toward the victim’s girlfriend.” The victim asked him to stop, whereupon “the perp stabbed him in his leg and fled the scene.”
The victim was taken to an area hospital in stable condition. He and his assailant “did not know each other,” according to the police.
The Daily News has more details.
Update: Police released a photograph of the suspect.
The individual is described as a male, 50-years-old, a dark complexion, approximately 5’11” tall, weighing 180 lbs., medium build, brown eyes, brown hair and a grey beard. He was last seen wearing a blue hooded jacket, black pants, a grey hooded sweatshirt and a black watch cap.
Anyone with information in regard to this individual is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, on Twitter @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
“Dispute” sounds like two people who got into an argument (that ended in violence). What the article is describing is just a blatant unprovoked attack on a stranger. There’s no dispute here.
You’re absolutely correct, Katherine. Many attackers provoke an altercation in order to get closer to their targets of opportunity. A bonus for some male attackers is to frighten and offend women with violent, crass remarks, before physically injuring someone.
Well the dispute is apparently whether or not, given the many absurdities that we are asked to swallow everyday these days, one has the right to ask someone to stop making advances toward one’s girlfriend without being stabbed.
I agree. There has been a lot of violence at that station and quite often the Citizen reports say there was a dispute or altercation, so people just ignore it and don’t take it seriously. The boyfriend in this incident didn’t just get poked with a pen knife. A butcher knife was used, there are photos of the police holding up a blood soaked shawl. You’d have to live on this block to know how much it really happens and how bad it is. I’ve witnessed more violent behavior in the past 5 years than I have in my entire life (and I moved to NYC in the 70’s). I don’t even know what to say anymore.
I don’t disagree with you but note that this really has nothing to do with 72nd Street. The incident happened on the train and they happened to get off at 72nd Street – it likely happened well south of 72nd St. That does not discount the fact that things definitely are worse in the 72nd Street area.
The point still remains. We have a big problem here. The biggest problem is the number of acts of lawlessness, whether it is attacks, destruction of property, or anything else. I don’t care what the statistics say – it is clearly happening more often and has led to a noticeable downtick in the quality of life.
The second, much smaller but still important problem is that some of our neighbors go to incredible lengths to deny that it is a problem. Yes, social programs to help others might help to reduce the number of incidents. But that does not mean that nothing needs to be done to make us feel safer in the short term. The rights of law-abiding citizens are more important than the rights of those who choose not to obey the law, regardless of what challenges they are facing in life. Plenty of us have significant challenges in our lives yet manage not to ruin things for others.
It’s actually much worse. Read the article in the NY Post.
I read that in the debate for Governor of Oklahoma, the Democrat, Joy Hofmeister, cited statistics that show that Oklahoma’s crime rate is worse than New York’s or California’s. The Republican, Kevin Stitt, just laughed this off and asked the crowd, “Do we believe we have higher crime than New York or California?”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/20/oklahoma-debate-stitt-hofmeister-crime/
It is not true that having Republican politicians of itself lowers the street crime rate.
true, but most red states have blue cities and the crime is in those cities.
Houston for example, is a blue city with a very high crime rate and it is in a red state, and the politics of the city matter more than the state for things like crime.
You can look at the crime rate as in total number of crimes, and then yes, it is in the cities where crime is greatest. Or you could look at the crime rate as the total number of crimes per person, and then the rates between cities and beyond either break even or skew towards the outer reaches. So it is not a red versus blue issue. However, thinking rationally, which would make more sense: 1) guns being more prevalent dropping crime rates or 2) guns being incredibly rare dropping crime rates. To answer that question, we do not even need to speculate. Countries with nationwide strict gun laws have lower crime rates than those with lax gun laws, of which the US is the most lax of the developed world. And guess what? We have the highest crime rate… go figure.
We just have more horrible people in our country. Access to guns and knives by good people does not induce them to shoot or stab. Bad people do these things.
Crimes are in cities because there are more people in cities. It really has Nothing to do with being a blue or red city or state!
Same with Hartford and New Haven.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats have been able to effect positive changes to our quality of life because they have become incapable of sitting down together and really trying to find answers. They don’t care about the citizens of this country and have become completely ineffective at governance. Instead they throw mud and blame at each other so nothing gets done. NOTHING. I believe in the importance of voting and I vote in elections, but I can absolutely understand why many people don’t bother. It doesn’t matter who is elected, our lives are becoming worse and worse.
But you can’t give up and you still need to vote because if you do nothing, nothing will ever change. Voting = Hope. Please vote.
And trump has made things MUCH worse because, his awful policies aside, he’s encouraged and blessed a style of mud-throwing and vitriol that has been enthusiastically embraced by republicans everywhere… how I long for the stylistic return of politicians such as John McCain, who gently remonstrated one of his supporters from the stage, saying that Senator Obama was a good man…
that positive and respectful attitude has long disappeared since the introduction of that bullying, flame-spewing orange avenger on the national scene.
trump’s message has all along been that anger the threat of violence and the denial of reality works; I wouldn’t be surprised to find that attitude has fully permeated the subconscious of our culture and may even have something to do with our current crime wave which seems to’ve begun at virtually the same time as his infamous escalator ride down at trump tower.
Trump was certainly a dishonest buffoon, but the left’s reaction to him did infinitely more lasting damage to this country than he did.
“…the left’s reaction to (trump) did INFINITELY MORE LASTING DAMAGE TO THIS COUNTRY than (trump) did.”
I figure you’ve squeezed about 800 lbs of hyperbole into those few words… you mean the left did infinitely more damage to the USA than trump’s cancellation of the treaty with Iran that Iran hadn’t violated, thus encouraging Iran to re-start they’re nuclear program & finally become a nuclear power, which may well lead to nuclear war in the world’s most volatile powder keg?
Do you mean infinitely worse than building, not a wall that the Mexicans didn’t pay for, but a far-right SCOTUS hellbent on taking rights away from half the population?
Do you mean infinitely worse than forcing the Afghans to release Taliban killers and negotiating an end to American involvement without allowing Afghanistan any say in the matter?
Or allowing the Turks to attack and kill our allies, the Kurds, who provided desperately needed help to America in the war against ISIS?
Tax breaks for the rich? Offering endless encouragement to neo-nazis & other right-wing fanatics and killers?
How exactly did you come to that startling conclusion, Petr?
“How exactly did you come to that startling conclusion, Petr?”
The same way Glenn Greenwald and Tulsi Gabbard and many others have (I voted for and supported Bernie Sanders, btw).
And, unlike you, I am not concerned with Iran and the Kurds and I believe that we should not be involved in ANY wars at all unless we are directly attacked.
Ah, I see; you’re embracing the current neoisolationism, occasioned by our soured Afghanistan experience which after all WAS CAUSED BY AN ATTACK ON NEW YORK CITY WHICH KILLED 3,000+ NEW YORKERS, at least one of whom was a workmate & friend of mine, & whom I miss to this day: ROD COPPOLA; engineer, musician, father and husband… & who was working that day at WNET’s World Trade Center-located television transmitter.
May his name be a blessing to all who remember him.
So when you write and speak, as others have for at least 80 years, about turning your back on the world, secure in some false assumption that our oceans protect us from attacks, so that we may safely resume our international snooze, please remember the attack we suffered on Dec. 7th, 1941, if you can’t remember 9/11.
It was the Isolationists and nativists of the late 1930s who tied Roosevelt’s hands, refusing to allow him to take the steps he needed to take, to raise our strength, to keep us safe; thus those isolationists directly bear responsibility for strengthening the Axis powers, leading to the deaths of many more Jews, Chinese and others in the years before we finally roused ourselves finally, a day late & a dollar short, purely out of a sudden & desperate self interest.
And when you write that you’re not concerned about our Kurdish allies in the region, or even Iran, watch what Iran is doing RIGHT NOW over the skies of Ukraine… that is, if you follow any news at all.
If you can’t arouse any sympathy or even empathy for those peaceful Ukrainians suddenly & viciously attacked, perhaps you should remember the fact that Iran’s national rallying cry is: DEATH TO AMERICA!
Then I would suggest that you reflect on these facts, and show at least some enlightened self-interest before declaring your utter pacifism in the face of ever growing autocratic ambition & power in this world we all share.
We will have to agree to disagree. You obviously think you have some morale high ground but so does the other side. I’m tired of people choosing war rather than settling disputes. Common people need to start putting real pressure on those in power to settle disputes. Its always the poor that pay the price and it is the poor you’ll notice that are the ones who end up fighting.
“… it’s always the poor who pay the price… and who end up fighting.”
Not in Ukraine… or Iran… or Myanmar… or Iraq… or Syria or even in New York City; the russians, Iranians, Al Qaeda, Syrians, ISIS etc. are equal opportunity killers and rapists.
Missiles and steel… even aircraft piloted by fanatics, ask no questions about identity or social standing.
One day you may end up realizing that.
Republican state governments defund cities, and then crime is worse. Then the Republicans say, See, Democrat cities are full of crime!
My opinion: don’t think Zeldin and other Republicans upstate are going to help NYC. Our transit, homelessness, and other problems will become only worse under a MAGA Republican governor.
You are right – having Republican politicians does not lower the crime rate. Giving up reporting on crimes ,such as shoplifting, fare beaing, etc, does lead to lowering rate.
Yes. I fail to see how anyone can think that the political party of a governor has any impact on local crime. It literally doesn’t. All these people on here saying we need to vote for Zeldin because he will fix crime, well, no, he won’t. What he will do is say that New York State thinks women should not have as many rights as men (he opposes abortion in ALL cases) and rejects the fundamental tenets of our democracy (he’s an election denier and thinks Trump won). If you want to vote for rational Republicans, be my guest. I voted for Bloomberg twice and would happily do so again, but don’t vote for a person who wants to shred the very notion of democracy.
Zeldin said he would fire Bragg and do his utmost to repeal bail reform. THAT LITERALLY WOULD HELP LOWER CRIME.
I really wish someone would explain to me how cash bail lowers crime. Keeping someone in jail who should not be roaming the streets lowers crime, yes. But what bail does is releases people not on the criterion of dangerousness, but on the criterion of ability to pay. So dangerous people who can make bail are still on the streets.
Because people who do violent street crime usually DON’T have enough money to get out on bail, if the bail is high enough. That solves the problem.
Lots of today’s criminals don’t want to go to jail. So when word gets out that you will sit in prison for an extended period if you rob a store or a person, they will stop robbing.
You have it all backwards. Governors are the heads of the EXECUTIVE branch. They enforce laws, they don’t make laws.
But it is true that of the 15 deadliest cities in America 11 of them are primarily run by Democrats.
The National Desk (TND) looked at the party affiliations of mayors, district attorneys, sheriffs and city council members within the nation’s 15 cities which currently hold the highest murder rates, according to worldpopulationreview.com.
The cities largely run by Democrats are St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Newark, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh.
All but three cities on the list have Democratic mayors. Democratic district attorneys are also in charge of prosecution in 12 of the 15 cities.
The top four deadliest cities — St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans and Detroit — have Democratic mayors, sheriffs, prosecutors and city council leaders. The fifth, Cleveland, has Democrats across the board with the exception of an unaffiliated sheriff who was appointed to his position.
Now tell us about the 15 large cities with the lowest crime rates. Large cities only, please, none of those places that no one has ever heard of unless they live there. Amazing what you find, huh?
As I said above, state governments have a huge influence over what happens in cities.
It’s also part of Republican propaganda to represent crime as a “Democrat city” thing. There is a lot of crime and addiction per capita in economically depressed rural areas, including upstate NY. Some of these high-crime places are upstate cities, and others are much smaller municipalities:
https://www.newyorkupstate.com/news/g66l-2019/04/1989acf835394/the-30-most-dangerous-places-in-upstate-ny-according-to-latest-fbi-crime-data.html
Of course, the Republicans have made sure that the criminals in those cities are well-provisioned with firearms.
While ours made sure that the criminals with those guns run around without consequences.
This is really weak logic. Crime tends to happen in cities due to population density and larger amounts of poor/down on their luck people. This is going to happen regardless of who is in charge.
I am among those strongly advocating for more stringent laws and better enforcement. Bloomberg was my favorite mayor of NY. I am a strong supporter of more moderate Dems (like Danzillo) who want more enforcement. A Republican mayor might move the needle somewhat on crime but pushing through some of these action items, but cities are still going to have relatively high crime rates no matter what.
So totally blaming all of this on Democrats doesn’t work. Plus there is a lot of nuance between different types of Democrats – San Francisco is getting rid of some of their more “woke” Democrats and replacing them with more moderate Democrats who will be tougher on crime but are not Trump-worshipping crazies.
Locate the stabber, arrest him, try him and if found guilty, sent him to prison for at least 5 years. Need to stop being soft on crime. Lock up the guilty.
Police are often on the upper level or the street outside this station, not on the lower level.
All part of the culture where if you want something you just take it. Stealing and theft. Knowing full well that even if you are caught, nothing will happen to you. Very primal and animalistic. The evolution of laws in a society were supposed to create order and rules. This behavior is not OK and women are not property that anyone has a right to move in on.
I think the west side rag comments section has been taken over by MAGA trolls. Every right wing post in this thread follows classic talking points meant to appeal to angry white people’s sense of grievance. And some of these posts have 34 likes…there aren’t 34 Republicans in the entire UWS.
Zeldin’s troll army has struck.
I am so sorry.
You will be shocked to see the percentage of Upper West Side residents who hold their noses and vote for Zeldin. He could easily get 30% of the vote, which would likely be some kind of record for a Republican.
Maybe ppl are finally starting to think for themselves and express their opinions without fear of being called derogatory names or “cancelled” by those who consider themselves activists of the far left? Try to engage with your neighbors, have an open mind, and maybe you will learn that its not a game of color war but actually real life. Life is purple not red or blue.
You are exactly correct. There is no more discussion of anything, there is only “I am righteous and you are a monster”. Nothing bothers me more than that.
Spoiler, that is I hope sarcasm rather than a real position. If not, it is absurd. No need to be right wing or MAGA to see that Bragg’s (and some other DA’s) capture and release policies work when fishing but not on our streets and in our communities. The State legislature refuses to allow Judges flexibility in deciding who should be held with or without bail. The current system doesn’t work and needs political gumption to be resolved.
I’m responding to the overt silliness of a base political argument, not on any criticism of a poor policy. Most of the comments are about R vs. D, not about whether the policy is good or bad.