By Carol Tannenhauser
On October 6, at approximately 3:30PM, a 15-year-old boy was beaten and robbed of his cell phone while standing inside the West 72nd Street and Broadway subway station on the northbound platform for the 1,2,3 line.
Police released the attached photographs of the suspect and are asking for the public’s help in locating him.
WSR asked the NYPD spokesperson why it often takes so long for police to release identification photos. The detective explained that sometimes a subpoena is required to get security tapes, or additional tapes are sought as the suspect’s trail is retraced, in an effort to get a better angle. Then, hours of tape must be gone through to find the individual.
In this incident, the suspect was unknown to the victim when he “approached him and punched him in the face,” police reported. “The victim fell to the ground and the individual began punching and kicking him in the face and body. The [suspect] then forcibly removed the victim’s iPhone 11 [and] fled onto a northbound 1 train. He was last seen exiting the West 137 Street and Broadway station. The victim sustained minor injuries to his face and was transported by EMS to Cornell Hospital.”
Police described the suspect as “in his late teens with a dark complexion and a thin build. He was last seen wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt.”
Anyone with information in regard to this incident 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 CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
I feel horrible for the victim. That’s what I’m fearing every day when my child leaves for school.
Why was this not in the news? I didn’t know about this. How can teens take the subway with this horrible crime? We need these criminals off the street. We cannot live like this. It’s time we stop protecting criminals and start protecting our children!
Congratulations on 20 years you are officially a New Yorker! That’s how long it takes IMHO. Just buying a condo doesn’t make you a New Yorker, not even close! Me 59 years on West 97th. Seen a lot of changes.
You have to realize, almost none of these crimes are on the news. If you get the app which shows police calls, your head will spin. There are crimes taking place all over the UWS hourly.
3:30 in the afternoon. This is not at 2 am. Not that it should be different. But it was in broad daylight when there are usually lots of people around. Criminals have no fear.
NYPD has been doing a great job of tracking these criminals down. Hopefully they find him. Unfortunately, given that the victim did not suffer severe physical injuries, I don’t think he the criminal will be put away for long.
I have children not much younger than this. They are not quite ready to ride the subway alone yet and stories like this make me more hesitant to let them do so. Which is a shame. I’m sure someone will reply by telling me how they rode the subways alone at age 4 in the 70s when it was more dangerous. Or they will tell me to move to the suburbs. I don’t really care. There is no excuse for this.
I would like to follow up on my comment by noting that despite my strong feelings on this matter, I am still voting Democrat. Because as important as this is to me, the Trump-loving Republicans are too much for me. If the Republicans would put up someone moderate who would swear off Trump and his craziness, then I would consider it. But I do think there are some moderate Democrats out there who both maintain traditional Democratic party values but also take crime seriously.
Hochul has taken some steps on this front. See this article for an example:
https://gothamist.com/news/hochul-backs-changes-to-new-york-bail-reform-laws
Those who want her to throw out Bragg so quickly are being ridiculous. You can’t undermine the will of the people that quickly – we are the idiots who voted for him (I personally did not). She is far from perfect but she is not in the woke progressive camp on this issue, and Zeldin’s rejection of the election was a litmus test for me and makes him unelectable. Full stop.
Juan, from the article you linked: “Two of Hochul’s proposals would expand the universe of crimes that are eligible for arrest or bail conditions; adding hate crimes…”
I wonder whether certain crimes, e.g. a non-Asian out of the blue attacks an Asian person, are not classified as hate crimes because Bragg or whoever is reluctant to see bail set.
I understand your objection to Zeldin, which I share. But it’s still important to remove the Democratic super majority in both chambers in Albany (state senate and assembly). It was this veto proof majority and one-party rule that resulted in badly designed pieces of legislation like bail reform, less is more, raise the age and other pro-criminal bills to be approved in recent years and quickly unravel decades of improvement in public safety.
How pathetic, you really think having Republicans in power will improve our lives. Are you kidding. Most of them want to control your life and take away your rights. Zeldin is a Trumper. He is a dangerous man. The Democrats and leaders of our City have to get smarter and revamp the court system. We also need to start treating the mentally ill. I think if there are mentally ill running around harming people they should be held and start treatment. I know there are law protecting their rights but this is a crisis and I think we need start getting them off the street and into psych hospitals until they are stable then provide housing where they take their meds and are accountable.
Robbery is not a sign of mental illness — this is an emboldened thief who thought no one would stop him … and no one did. Bail reform and downgrading crimes are the issues. San Francisco removed their District Attorney who refused to prosecute, and Bragg can also be removed if he keeps downgrading crimes. The Governor can rescind bail reform right now, but for some reason, she won’t. She can also remove Bragg and she won’t. Criminals need to be held once arrested. Crime is the number one issue in NYC right now and Zeldin has a strong chance of winning because of inaction by others. We’re all in a tough spot right now.
Don’t worry: I’ve been told by our current leadership that the ‘perception of crime’ is far worse than the reality. This is from people who drive around with armed bodyguards at their side.
On a serious note…a 15 year old kid was beaten and robbed in broad daylight for a phone? I don’t know what is more disgusting: the act itself or the inevitable defense of this terrible human from the Progressives who will lecture us about the negative impacts of Capitalism and “systemic racism’ and advise that the remedy is ‘services’ because we can’t expect allegedly downtrodden people to abide by even the most basic principles of human decency.
Where is anyone lecturing you about the negative impacts of capitalism or systematic racism.
The assaulter should be found, arrested, and prosecuted.
Well said Dennis. Good to know there are other rational people in this channel.
“WSR asked the NYPD spokesperson why it often takes so long for police to release identification photos. The detective explained that sometimes a subpoena is required to get security tapes, or additional tapes are sought as the suspect’s trail is retraced, in an effort to get a better angle. Then, hours of tape must be gone through to find the individual.”
So, again, WHY did it take so long (17 days) to release a photo? It is government/NYC video from the STATION itself!! Get off your arses, and take the “hours” it takes to get the “better angle”. In other words, get off your cell phones and do your jobs so we can find the actual criminals and notify you!!! Sorry, but that pathetic response insults our collective intelligence. Good for the WSR for asking the tough question.
You know what, deBlasio would’ve actually been better than this mayor. At least deBlasio fooled no one.
The police answered honestly. Why do you imagine they didn’t? Patrol cops do not investigate crime. Detectives do. How do you know where the video came from? For all you know, these photos were offered up privately from riders. The MTA is NOT government property. There are NO cameras everywhere YET. The MTA is a private transportation authority. The tough question had a realistic answer. Cops and Detectives are not magicians and they cannot pull video out of their hats. It has to be gathered, analyzed, they cannot release photos of minors, and yes, it might take 17 days. If you think you can do the job better … well … join the NYPD or even the Auxiliary. Stop expecting miracles. By the way, they are grossly understaffed and leaving in droves thanks to the unappreciative public. So blame yourself for the lack of manpower.
“. How do you know where the video came from? ”
Umm, you can see the 72nd Street subway column behind the criminals head.
” The MTA is a private transportation authority.”
Wrong, there is nothing private about the MTA. It is a public-benefit corporation created by the New York State Legislature.
The image of the criminal in this case should take no more than a few hours to have gathered. It is clear and was taken within the subway station.
You need to stop making excuses and demand better from the police. 17 days to produce this image to the public is simply not excusable no matter how much you try.
It will continue to get worse. The reason it sometime take longer than it should to release photos is because the NYPD is in a manpower crisis. Detectives have huge case loads and overtime has been cut. Literally just not enough hours in the day. Another major problem is the morale of the NYPD, working your butt off to solve crime only to see the person get out the same day gets old after awhile. Cops have been working without a contract since July 2017, Adams was asked if he was worried about Cops leaving in record numbers he said it’s a chance to “diversify” the force.
How disgusting. I have a 14 year old nephew and honestly, if this had been him, I’d relish 5 minutes with this thug myself. Vote, folks. Imagine this was one of your own loved ones. Vote.
This is tragic and happening all too often with teens robbing, stabbing and shooting other teens. Just last night in the Bronx, 3 teens stabbed another teen. It’s happening day and night, near school and in our neighborhood. Kids are just lost, and it’s sad.
One resident asked why this was not on the news? It depends on what news you read or watch. For example, New York Times definitely is not interested in reporting crimes. There was also a stabbing (on the neck) on 86th and Columbus at 11 pm. Not even late for a Saturday night.
Thank you for posting about this! I posted a comment about this earlier today, in the OTHER article about the incident at the 72nd St subway but the comment was not accepted (how strange). Incidents are occurring daily and I find it odd how some folks think it’s not that bad.
I’ve called the governors office to complain about the crime on the subway.
Not everybody is rich and can take an Uber to the doctor or to work or to school
So completely fed up that the elite elected officials are completely out of touch.
Why are the same criminals being arrested over and over again and unless they kill you, they get out????
For those of you who care, please call the governors office
It is sad that people look at this situation and don’t understand the real issues. Getting your information from news sources with opinions based on a political party agenda is essentially just being sold a bag of beans.
One main reason for the current urban increase in crime is that we are not warehousing the mentally ill in jails and prisons anymore. Full stop.
It was a crime against humanity to do that in the first place. Programs that are expensive which provide housing and clinical care are required in much larger numbers. The news won’t touch the subject. Politicians barely broach the discussion unless it is to counter the gun debate. Talking about it will run the very real risk of stigmatizing a very vulnerable population even more.
The issue is centered in urban cities because suburban America drops them off or sends the unwanted on buses to places like NYC. Blaming politicians or the system is not a solution. The first step is medical care. Sometimes long term. Sometimes short term. But everyone just seems to be afraid of what they don’t understand.
A Thursday at 3:30pm, at the subway station a block away from where a cluster of incidents related to after school violence at the McDonald’s has been occurring sporadically for at least a year (see, e.g. https://www.westsiderag.com/2021/10/28/71-year-old-man-shot-thursday-afternoon-multiple-suspects-sought-police-say and https://www.westsiderag.com/2022/10/10/another-problem-on-a-problem-block-police-ask-publics-assistance).
When I walk past there around school closing time, there are usually cops around. Just a random thought there may be a set of deeper problems that are leading to so many incidents at this particular location during school days.
While I don’t dispute that there’s an issue with the students at McD’s, the assaults at the 72nd St. subway station (and on this block) have been happening for much longer than a year and it usually involves adult males. The first incident that I was aware of was during the onset of Covid when woman was stabbed in the back at the 72nd St. station while she was buying a MetroCard. There are incidents at that location, and the area between the subway and Duane Reade, and the stretch on 72nd from B’way to WEA, on a regular basis. The CVS on WEA has also been a target for the past few weeks. The WSR previously posted a photo of a man who attacked someone in the subway and then ran out of the station and across to the park on 72nd. Imagine how shocked I was to see the photo was taken by a security camera just a few feet from my front door. When you hear helicopters hovering over the neighborhood it’s usually the police (and not tourists). Just an hour ago a man was assaulted on 68th and Broadway. Unfortunately in the past when someone posted a comment about a related incident in this forum there were 10+ chicken-little follow up comments. I’m grateful that the WSR is covering and following up on these incidents now.
I have read many of the comments below, and they all have the same tone. Everyone is sick of the crime in the city. If you truly are fed up with the current situation, then you need to get out and vote these people out of office.
The problem is that voting someone “out of office” is not an option we get at the ballot box. You have to vote someone *into* office, and neither party is presenting an acceptable alternative.
I might not like Hochul, but I’m not voting for Donald Trump’s sycophant to take her place.
I could write someone in, or not vote at all, but either of those translates into a vote for Trump, and I won’t vote for Trump.
So, what do you propose I, or we, do to “vote these people out of office”? I don’t want them there any more than you do, but how do you propose we accomplish removing them?
Mayor Adams was voted in on the basis of law and order, and his history as a cop. This was a year ago.
How many reports of attacks on people in the subway does it take for more police to be deployed there? Mayor talks big, don’t do squat. Poor kid – this should not have happened to him if police were around.
I have lived on the UWS since the mid 70s. Yes, it was worse then, but I was also faster on my feet then, and probably more vulnerable now. So I share your concerns about rising crime on the UWS. But I do not believe that Republicans will be able to prevent disaffected teens from attacking others, especially other teens. This is not just a NYC issue. Crime is also a problem in red states – even worse in some red states than in NYC. If Republicans can’t stop crime in red states, how would they do better here?
Yes, the history of Republican control in Albany is to cut funding for things that benefit NYC. For NYC to send more money into state coffers than it gets back. We don’t need Zeldin et al cutting funding, extracting wealth from NYC (still the state’s economic engine – look at all those depressed areas upstate) and then saying, See, Democrat cities are a mess!
Because they did in the past.
As well current administration showed complete disregard for the current situation and denied it exists. The pathetic attempt of the last few days re “flooding subway with cops” is a pre-election political stunt.
By whom? The Mayor is not running for office.