UPDATE: 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 26: No arrests have been made as of Tuesday midday following an unprovoked stabbing on the Upper West Side Monday morning, a police spokesperson told West Side Rag.
A 26-year-old man was standing on the west side of Broadway and 96th Street about 8:10 a.m., when a man stabbed him in the buttocks, police said. A pool of blood was still visible on the street corner Monday afternoon.
The victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition, and required two stitches, before being discharged, according to Councilmember Gale Brewer.
“Detectives investigating motive & obtaining video,” Brewer wrote Monday evening about what she called a “horrific stabbing.” “We will share info ASAP.”
ORIGINAL STORY
By Gus Saltonstall
A 26-year-old man was stabbed on West 96th Street and Broadway on Monday morning, a police spokesperson told West Side Rag.
The stabbing took place about 8:10 a.m. during the first morning commute of the week above ground near the T-Mobile store on the west side of Broadway and 96th Street, according to police and reports.
The attacker approached the 26-year-old man on the street and stabbed him in the butt, before fleeing toward West 95th Street, police said. The attack “appears to be unprovoked,” a police spokesperson told the Rag.
The victim was transported to a local hospital in stable condition, NYPD added.
There have been no arrests and NYPD have launched a search for the suspect.
The Rag will update this story when more information becomes available.
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That side of the street, under the scaffold, is very sketchy. I have seen people dealing drugs there. Still blood on the ground one hour later.
Safety in nyc is so bad even in “safe” areas.
Always avoid scaffolding. It makes you an easy target.
Just walked by and saw the blood and knew it was something bad like this. At 810am on a weekday? Wow
Yes, saw the same. Crazy.
Adams is failing New Yorkers. Hochul is failing New Yorkers. Brewer is failing UWSers.
News alert!!! Brewer does not represent the entire UWS. This is part of Abreu’s district.
It’s just barely in his district, and that’s very new at that. It went into effect in Feb 7th 2023. For years, this was Gale Brewer’s district.
Still, I’m not sure it’s either of their “faults” per se, but it can’t be denied, that to the public is feeling like things have gone down hill.
Vote them out? I say yes.
And yet, crime and safety is not a priority for any of the council members or the candidates. Vote them out.
Protected bike lanes and curb space “equity” are prioritized by CB7 ahead of crime safety.
96th Street is now becoming very unsafe. Where are the cops and cameras? Scaffolding needs to come down to allow full sight lines.
I don’t think anyone likes scaffolding but NYC Local Law 11 requires a full exterior inspection of most buildings every 5 years which is why we have scaffolding all over the place.
Is there really nothing that can be done about that law?
Mark Levine was talking about lengthening the required minimum period to something like every 7 or 8 years from every 5 years. I don’t know what happened to that suggestion. Are the scaffolding companies lobbying to keep LL11 as is?
Makes sense now that most buildings have already gone thru multiple cycles of facade inspection & repair and are in much better shape than 25 years ago.
Regulations on how long buildings can leave scaffolding in place must be strictly enforced and stiffer penalties applied. Any Upper West Sider can monitor specific buildings and report them to put pressure on enforcement.
It’s sad because any progress made, in terms of safety, across the late 1990s into the 2000s, has really been set back. In my opinion, quite a bit of progress had been made compared to what we’ve experienced in previous years. It’s so disappointing to see the backward trend.
That side of the street is CRAZY. Sorry to hear about this.
This happens a lot more than you think on the UWS I would strongly urge you to all attend the monthly 24th Precinct Community meeting, which is April 17th at 7pm at the library on 100th street The precinct goes over what has been going on and has Q&A on any issues you want to raise. These are held each month on the third Wed All are welcome, business owners to!!
Don’t wait for our local elected and self-appointed community leaders that got us in this mess, come a get real answers/solutions.
You really have to wonder about the mindset, intelligence level or motivations of the people who comment after every crime story about the “failure” of politicians or the invalidity of crime statistics that show that most crime rates are significantly lower than all-time highs. There are more than 8.4 million people living in NYC, more than 214,000 on the UWS. There is always going to be some level of crime. It is never going to be zero. Even in authoritarian states (such as Russia), where there isn’t even freedom of thought, there is still a level of violent crime.
Who cares if they are “lower than all-time highs”? Why is that a relevant standard at all? I’m sure people are better off now than during the Great Depression too. Doesn’t mean we can’t do better.
Actually, the fact that a stabbing happened on the street at 8:10 AM makes it even more frightening. People seem to know that there are little to no consequences anymore and have become emboldened to commit more crimes.
Spoken like someone who’s never been a crime victim.
Besides the fact that you are incorrect, how is your comment helpful or even relevant?
There seems to be a serious rift between commenters on this site who prefer to draw upon facts and reason vs. those who prefer to react based on pure emotion.
For example, currently there are ~4 million subway rides taken each day in NYC, and there’s an average of six serious incidents a day. Does that ratio matter at all against any individual person’s reaction to an individual news report…or their personal perception about whether they feel safe? Should we spend additional millions out of our State or City budget (and deploy even more police) if there is one more sensational incident this week? If there are two more? And should we cut the additional expenditures if there are only 2-3 next week?
For another example, violent crime in NYC was far, far higher when Rudolf Giuliani was Mayor than it is today under Mayor Adams. It’s not even close–the number of murders was way higher before.) Does that really mean Adams “cares more” or does a better job than Giuliani did? Or that whomever is our representative on the NYC council today “cares more” or is doing a better job than their predecessor on the council then?
Do you really not see the limitation to relying on feelings, perceptions, misinformation or (gasp) inflammatory rhetoric designed to instill fear?
Do you also not see the fallacy of expecting crime to be zero, not to mention drawing conclusions and going crazy over every individual incident?
Six ‘serious’ crimes per day. How many ‘nonserious’ crimes are there? How many of these aren’t reported? Subway riders are shoved, harassed, threatened, have wallets stolen etc. When a crazy homeless guy on the train and screams racial slurs and threatens people
– which happens every day- people feel unsafe. The violent crimes during Rudy’s time as mayor were criminals and gang members shooting each other. Deodorant wasn’t locked up then – criminals were. That’s the difference.
Interesting. I replied to your comment, but the West Side Rag didn’t post it. No one expects crime to be “zero,” but there is NO question that broken windows theory worked and the 1990s were much, much, much safer. The City Council forced the police to back off quality of life crimes starting around 2012, including turnstile jumping, and the City has plummeted downhill from there., as well as the MTA bankrupt. I used to be able to walk anytime of day or night by myself and feel perfectly safe. Today, if I’m not almost getting maimed by an e-bike, there are random attacks as well as targeted attacks. There is NO question the City has gone far downhill. I think you are gaslighting yourself, others, or simply didn’t live here at that time in order to compare. That’s all. I have dealt with mothers who lost their children to random bullets, so perhaps this kind of reality isn’t real to you, because you have not dealt with it.
“Deodorant wasn’t locked up then.” This is gonna be my go-to answer for anyone who says things aren’t worse now.
A lot of stores had thick plexiglass and wouldn’t let you in back then. You would order from the front and they would go pick things up for you.
Most people inside and outside the city see it is worse—Jerry is gaslighting you—and stop calling ppl emotional or lacking intelligence just because they don’t agree with you
You’ve made some good points, but I’d like to know where you found those statistics and if six serious subway crimes a day couldn’t be viewed as sixty depending on what’s considered serious.
There’s a palpable fear of riding the subway, even from people who do it daily, and some of that may be attributed to sensationalist reporting and emotions runneth-over, but, perhaps, some is based on cold hard facts: how many riders are harshly shoved; pickpocketed; threatened with switchblades, knives or guns; knifed or shot? I think that depends on the source of your statistics.
Thank you Jerry for your well thought out response.
If only there could more people who are prone to logical & rational processing rather than people who make crazy statements like “the scaffolding needs to be removed” as if the scaffolding was put for fun.
As a previous victim of various modes of crime over the last 20 years, I am fully aware that crime rates will never be zero. No matter where you live. And crime rates has never been zero in all of human history.
Thank you, Jerry. The hysteria is borderline comical.
“Hysteria.”
Anyone with a stake in reality knows where all this is going, and public safety will get much, much worse before it gets better, unless…people actually wake up now and start pushing back, voting for less ideologically motivated politicians, and start getting “hysterical” and vocal about not wanting to be randomly stabbed. Totally reasonable to find this state of affairs intolerable. Anger is the appropriate response.
Good luck with that. Statistically speaking, we’re all pretty safe.
Not at all. Clearly, you have no recollection of our fantastically safe 1990s. This is not comical or hysteria. It’s called MEMORY. And it’s not fiction. It was very real and very safe. Bail reform is a disaster, e-bikes are a disaster. Stop your gaslighting. It’s not working.
Your making stuff up now, Sam.
The early 90s were the worst years in NYC crime history. The years 1990 to 1993 were individually the four worst years for murder since they kept statistics.
is this a joke? there were about *two thousand* murders in NYC in 1993. it’s on pace for around 400 this year. talk about gaslighting.
Except that for the most recent 28-day period ending 03/17, robbery is up 176% and Felony Assault is up 86% We have wiped out most of the gains made. The city’s crime rate is up nearly 23% overall vs 2010, PBMN 29% and the 24 down 5%. Gee what happened from 2013 on….
I used 2010 as the dept posted this year vs 2,14 and 31 year data in charts
Boom! Thank you, Robert. As well as Sam Katz and others here who are fully aware of what is happening and have had enough. Go vote!
I try to avoid that area under the scaffolding but it goes right up to the curb to cross 96th. Why is that homeless encampment/flea market allowed to persist on the sidewalk right there? We need a solution to mental illness on our streets! It’s terrible for them to be wandering around, and it is terrible for everyone else too. We need to take a stand on the right to feel safe in the street.
What evidence do we have that a mentally ill or homeless person committed this crime? The article certainly doesn’t present any. While I’m at it, it’s worth noting that neither mental illness nor homelessness is a monolith and neither imply violence in and of themselves.
The Columbia / 275 West 96th Street needs to do something about the situation their scaffolding is causing. The “smoke shop” illegal pot store has only led to people hanging out in front smoking. Why a condominium would rent to them in the first place is questionable. The flea market/den of zombies is awful. The stench and filthy situation is disgusting..How are the owners tolerating this? Please do right by your neighbours and remove the scaffolding that has been up for years.
The condominium does not own the commercial space.
It is owned by Friedland properties.
The DOB and their policies are the ones who determine how long a scaffolding stays up.
The police department and the city are the only ones who can remove these people.
You should try to remove them and let me know how it goes.
The scaffolding can’t come down until the construction work is done. The commercial section of the condominium rents to those occupying the storefront. The residential section has no say.
I have the same question. One couple putting together the flea market even had a baby that CPS took last year as the poor infant was there all day long. Insane. The condo board of that building should put its act together.
I’m not sure what it is that I say in my comments that so offends whomever decides what gets published and what doesn’t. Because each time I’ve made a comment, it doesn’t appear in the thread and I have to try again.
So I WILL try again, because I think, after living on the Upper Westside for over 40 years, I’ve seen it go from bad to good and to its present, dangerous situation. So here goes….
When will the UWSers start being concerned about their own safety and the safety of their families? Why don’t the voters understand that the young man could have been their son, husband, brother? And instead of “the butt,” it could have been the back, the chest or any place on the body that could have been fatal. I’m sure that young man, or the woman stabbed in the subway, or the grandfather shot on the street thought it couldn’t happen to them. It can. Please wake up and vote like your life depends on it. Because, at this point, it does.
I’ve lived up here since around 1990 and 109 for 5 years in the 80s.. I ask myself whether I feel more unsafe because I’m not as young and carefree – but actually think it’s probably where the crimes are now happening ie not some place in the South Bronx that I could ignore back then – but moreover it’s a feeling that people are just plane nasty now – young kids have no problem mugging and harassing people – it’s a sport. Young people know they get away with it – I have my antena up on broadway 93 and up as well as on trains.
Exactly RAL Crime was not spread throughout the city in “the old days”. If you wanted to be safe, you stayed out of certain areas or didn’t walk around at certain times. No longer an option now.
This is part of the progressive politician messaging. There should be “no” good or bad neighborhoods. Some of the issue with relocating people into new neighborhoods is that they have no community that holds them accountable.
Well said Janis—like you I’ve had factual respectful observations that maybe don’t fit the narrative edited out by the comments administration —glad you tried again—if you see things are worse and you feel things are worse then they’re worse—anyone who has lived in New York knows these crime stats are manipulated to fit agendas—a mere 10 years have taken New York from beautiful and safe to the current sad state
Everyone is missing assigning blame to the major contributors and creators of our current crime-driven environment: city council members. No matter what Adams tried to do they have blocked his efforts to reform the mess they created. They hide behind their group membership status while people in all forums bash Adams and Hochul. Have you ever seen anyone hold Carl Heastie or Andrea Stewart Cousins responsible for their roles in making our city such a dangerous mess? Start contacting your city council members and hold THEM accountable for what they have created for all of us. You could be the next person walking on West 96th Street one early morning. That could be your blood on the sidewalk next time.
Neither Heastie nor Cousins are City Council members.
I don’t pretend to know who everyone’s city council member is so you need to figure that out for your area. Heastie (speaker of the NY state assembly) and Stewart Cousins (majority leader of the NY state senate) hide behind the same group membership, safe in the knowledge that most people won’t think of them and their roles in creating this mess while everyone bashes Hochul and Adams.
A friend who lives in San Francisco told me about changes that voters are pushing through, in order to try to reduce crime, antisocial behaviors, etc. SF recalled “progressive” DA Chesa Boudin in 2022. Boudin, like NY pols we know, vowed to reduce “mass incarceration” and no longer to seek cash bail or prosecute quality of life crimes.
After he was replaced with a tougher-on-crime DA, Brooke Jenkins, though, this article says that crime still went up in SF:
https://reason.com/2023/07/12/1-year-after-chesa-boudins-recall-is-san-francisco-safer-under-his-successors-more-punitive-policies/
But another article a few months later says that crime in SF fell slightly in 2023:
https://missionlocal.org/2024/01/explore-sf-crime-fell-ever-so-slightly-in-2023/
This whole picture sounds like the picture we get around here, except that Bragg has not been recalled, and he did not sustain some of his most extreme positions.
Now that I’ve written all this, I wish I had a definite suggestion to make beyond simply replacing Adams, Bragg, Levine (in pocket of luxury developers) et al.
I live a block away (and have for the past 22 years), and grew up on the UWS in the 1970s. This ‘hood has become largely a dump over the past few years, despite the insane amount of construction of high-end condos that never seem to reach completion. There are so many shuttered stores, layabouts and aggressive panhandlers. A more citywide issue, but I also decry the disgusting stench of skunk-weed and pot any- and every-where, parks included (where smoking of anything is against the law). While I’m on a rant, I truly despise the uptick in unregulated and lawless e-bikes speeding every which way, and the apps that result in dudes hogging the street with their mopeds and bikes outside of McDonalds and “order anything we’ll have it to you in 3 minutes” quasi-bodegas that are really nothing to do with the neighborhood (no one walks into those warehouses) and promote nothing in the community. Everyone is stuck in their little bubbles of self-owns (I mean cell phones), lost in somewhere else, disengaged from the actual world, while we dodge an obvious epidemic of rats (and dead flattened rats) on the streets. I’m very sorry for the person who was stabbed for no reason (as if there really ever is a decent reason); what a horrific way to start the week.
Any description whatsoever of the assailant? Might help.