In the past days New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the New York City subways had been upgraded to a safe area, a woman was burned alive, a man was pushed in front of an oncoming train' and illegal immigrant gangs robbed immigrants.
Just before Christmas, the Democrat took X to say that, starting in March, he had taken action to make the subways “safer for millions of people who ride the trains every day.” one.”
“Since sending the (New York National Guard) to support the (NYPD) and MTA, security efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime has been going down, and riders they are going up,” he wrote on December 22.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), while mostly serving five cities, Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley, is a federal, not city-owned, agency.
However, in the short term, an illegal immigrant burning a woman on an F train, a man miraculously survived when he was pushed in front of a 1 train and members of a Venezuelan gang are robbing people willingly.
Coney Island, Guatemalan Sebastian Zapeta was charged with murder after allegedly setting a woman on fire in Toms River, New Jersey, as she slept on the F train at the Stillwell Avenue Station. The incident happened on the morning of December 22, hours before Hochul's post.
The victim, Debrina Kawam, had worked for Merck Pharmaceuticals in the early 2000s but was recently living in a homeless shelter in New York City.
Zapeta's trial is set for Tuesday. He told the NYPD that he had overdosed on alcohol and “didn't know what happened,” according to NBC News.
“My office is very confident in the evidence in this case and our ability to hold Zapeta accountable for his wrongdoing,” Kings County Democratic District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said of the case. .
Earlier this week, 23-year-old Kamel Hawkins of Brooklyn allegedly pushed an unconscious person onto the tracks of the 1 train at South Ferry at the W 18th Street Station in Chelsea.
Hawkins initially ran away but was soon apprehended near Columbus Circle and Central Park, according to reports. The injured man's survival was hailed as a miracle, as he fell into a “ditch” between the tracks as the train passed him, and an ambulance took him to hospital with head injuries. .
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Hawkins was previously arrested for assaulting a Queens police officer. His father, Shamel Hawkins, told the New York Post, “We think someone put something in his weed.”
Shamel Hawkins said Kamel had been “acting weird” recently and that he “needs help” but still refuses to seek it.
On New Year's Day, WPIX reported two separate incidents of underground stabbings during daylight hours west of Side. A 30-year-old man was reportedly stabbed in the head and hip while waiting for the same train at 110 Street and Broadway. This station is located in one of the safest areas of Manhattan, near Columbia University, St. John's Cathedral and a popular restaurant. on the sitcom “Seinfeld.”
Another man was stabbed while waiting for the 2 train at 14th Street and 7th Avenue that same day, according to the agency.
Meanwhile, authorities have found 22 Aragua train Immigrant gang members during an attack on a Crotona Park apartment building in the Bronx last month. Federal law enforcement followed the ankle sprain of Jarwin Valero-Calderon – a Venezuelan national who was arrested in Nassau County and ordered deported.
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Hochul said in X's video on his account, titled “This week in New York,that his “five-point plan to improve metro safety” has led to a 10% drop in subway crime by March 2023.
Hochul also said he will send 250 more members of the National Guard to participate in Joint Task Force: Empire Shield.
In its December report of November crime statistics, the NYPD listed subway crimes as down 15% that month from 240 reported to 202 and a year-over-year decrease so far of 6% from 2,137 to 2,002.
The NYPD said the subways saw their safest number of year-to-date numbers in more than a decade.
“We're all in this situation, and while the low levels of violence and riots across New York City are very encouraging as we enter the final month of 2024, we have a lot of work to do to deliver with the public safety that New Yorkers deserve,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said in a Dec. 3 statement.
However, New Yorkers in general have felt less secure about the MTA as of late.
“Kathy Hochul needs to resign,” spokeswoman Chaya Raichik – or “LibsOfTikTok” – wrote on X after reporting some of the latest incidents in the metro, and said some of the recent thefts committed it was secretly carried out by members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
“Of course he will not resign. These people only care about their power and their benefits,” FOX Business host David Asman wrote in response. “Only the people of New York can get rid of him.”
“Daniel Penny for governor,” one X user said, referring to the man who was acquitted of the death of a madman who threatened passengers earlier this year.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber has pledged during the transportation board meeting in March “let's go back” to the mid-20th century when the subway was incredibly unsafe. “This is a nightmare for New Yorkers,” he said after learning Carlton McPherson — who neighbors described to the Post as “quite a bit off” — had just shoved another man in front of 4 train bound for Woodlawn at 125th Street in Harlem. .
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. (Getty)
Mayor Eric Adams it also echoes public sentiment in speeches earlier this year.
“Public safety is real safety and that's how people feel,” he said in March. “We know we have over 4 million passengers a day and a reliable system. We know we have about six criminals a day out of those 4 million passengers. But if they feel unsafe, then let's finish our job.”
“Statistics don't matter if people don't believe they're in a safe place,” he said, according to WNBC.
Lieber said at the March meeting he would not “give up our city to anyone.”