New York City is reeling from a February crime wave that saw a whopping 60 percent spike in incidents over last year, made worse by a corresponding surge in violent crimes that has plagued the city during Mayor Eric Adams’ first months in office.
NYC residents have reacted with horror to a shocking string of brutal incidents, including the vicious battering of a woman with a hammer by a homeless man in Queens and the smearing of feces on another woman in the Bronx – after which the alleged perpetrator, a violent criminal with a history of 44 arrests, was stunningly released without bail.
The city was also horrified last month by the murder of Asian woman Christina Yuna Lee, 25, who was tailed to her home by another homeless man, Assamad Nash, 35, and brutally knifed to death.
During the month of February, the NYPD reported a 58.7 percent increase in total crime, the department said in a statement Thursday.
The city’s latest crime figures show 9,138 incidents last month, as opposed to 5,759 during the same period in 2021 — with double-digit surges in nearly every major category.
During the month of February, the seemingly overmatched NYPD reported a 58.7 percent increase in total crime, the department said in a statement Thursday with the city’s latest crime figures, recording 9,138 incidents as opposed to 5,759 in 2021 – with double-digit surges in nearly every major category
There were 32 murders in February — three more than the same month last year.
Multiple other categories saw shocking jumps, including car theft, which soared by nearly 105 percent; grand larceny, which jumped nearly 80 percent over the previous year; robberies, which surged 56 percent; a 44 percent bump in burglaries and a 22 percent spike in assaults. Rapes also saw a terrifying 35 percent rise in February.
The New York subway has been ground zero for the latent crime wave after an alarming 73.3 percent increase in underground incidents – including 182 in February alone.
Hate crimes have also doubled since last year — with anti-Asian attacks more than tripling and anti-Jewish complaints up by a whopping 54 percent over the same time last year, from 134 to 207 incidents.
One recent poll revealed that nearly 75 percent of all New York City voters consider crime to be a ‘very serious’ problem — the highest number since polling began in 1999.
The one small ray of light for New York is that shootings declined slightly in February, by 1.3 percent over the same period in 2021.
‘The men and women of the New York City Police Department are proactively addressing the deep-rooted causes of criminal behavior,’ Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said in a statement.
‘The NYPD will never relent, and the department has made far too much progress over the decades – and invested far too much in the communities it serves – to fall back by any measure. New Yorkers deserve better.’
Adams sought to address the issue by pleading with lawmakers in Albany recently, urging them to consider a controversial bail reform law that would allow judges to consider whether a person is dangerous before releasing them from jail.
Adams wants to see changes in bail reform laws and other criminal justice measures, saying they will bring down crime rates in the city and reduce gun violence.
In his first visit to the Albany since becoming mayor, Adams said we knew what needed to be done.
‘We walked away saying we’re not going to fall into the trap of saying we can’t have justice and safety. We can have the justice we need and the safety we deserve. I’ve said this over and over again.
Last week, Adams outlined his plans for city bail laws, which can allow for suspects to roam the street often within hours of an arrest.
‘Let’s remove the cash bail system, because one should not be able to get out of jail just because you can pay bail. Let’s take that away. Judges should look at the case in front of them and say, “This person has two gun arrests, and he’s continually saying to the people of the city that I don’t care about the safety of you.” That judge should have the right to make the discretion that this person just be held.’
Many of New York City’s most violent crimes have been from repeat offenders and after Manhattan’s soft-on-crime District Attorney Alvin Bragg, 48, downgraded many crimes to misdemeanors.
The new mayor also recently met with President Joe Biden, who pledged to New Yorkers and the nation that the federal government would step up its fight against gun violence.
Adams hopped on an Amtrak train to get to the state capital last month, writing on Twitter: ‘On my way to Albany to #GetStuffDone for New York City!’
Adams also promised last month to address the crime wave, and crackdown on woke state bail reform laws thought to be fueling the rash of violent incidents.
Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was stabbed to death in her New York City apartment ‘by homeless serial criminal.’ Assamad Nash, 25, has been arrested for her murder after she was found dead in the blood-soaked bathtub of her Chinatown apartment
Chilling footage shows the murderer, named as Nash, follow victim Christina Yuna Lee through the hallway of her Chinatown apartment building
Nash is said to have followed Yuna Lee in after she exited a cab, then forgot to check the door had shut behind her
Earlier this month, the mayor announced by the mayor exactly two weeks ago on February 17, deployed 1,000 additional officers, as well as teams of health workers, into the city’s intricate subterranean network to crack down on the influx of crime.
‘No more smoking. No more doing drugs. No more sleeping. No more doing barbecues on the subway system. Not more just doing whatever you want,’ Adam said at a press event announcing the plan alongside New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
‘Those days are over. Swipe your MetroCard. Ride the system. Get off at your destination.’
But Adams’ enforcement plan, which did not take effect effect on February 21 – the day the NYPD’s crime data for the week began – has so far failed miserably, as the statistics show, with a rash of attacks including one on a city-employed scientist with a hammer and another where an assailant smeared human feces on a victim.
The day the program launched, New York police officers reported a two assaults on the subway, mere hours after Adams’ address.
In one instance, a 58-year-old man was arrested for allegedly going after another man with a hatchet around 12:30 a.m. at a Brooklyn subway stop where police were stationed.
Former NYPD officer and celebrity civil rights attorney Peter Gleason told DailyMail.com that the increase stems from policies implemented by Adams’ predecessor Bill De Blasio, including the failed $850million Thrive NYC plan, meant to assist New Yorkers with mental health problems.
‘New York’s subterranean transportation hub or subways was commonly referred to as sewer transport back in the dark days of the 1970s – 1980s,’ Gleason said.
‘Were going back to those days, compliments of the failed De Blasio policies inherited by the Adam’s administration.’
‘Should Adams rebrand the DeBlasio failure of Thrive New York and other policies, then he alone will own the failure of the mental health crisis that infects New York City both above and below ground.’
Sickening surveillance video shows a robber kicking Dr Nina Rothschild down the steps and bashing her in the head repeatedly with a hammer, fracturing her skull days after Mayor Eric Adams vowed to crack down on violence in the transit system.
Surveillance video from the East 241st Street subway station in the Bronx shows a man attacking an unsuspecting woman sitting on a bench on February 21
The revolting attack took place without any apparent provocation during the evening rush hour
Upon being arrested, the suspect was found to have been carrying a screwdriver and a knife on his person, police said.
Roughly two hours later, a homeless man hit a woman in the face with a metal pipe aboard a subway train in the Bronx, cops reported.
The woman, who declined medical care, told officers the man lashed out after asking her to stop talking with a friend. No arrest has been made in that case.
More than fifty incidents followed during the remainder of the month of February, the statistics confirm.
One of the most headline-grabbing infractions, however, occurred on Monday, when a woman waiting for a train at a Bronx subway station was approached by a stranger who ‘struck her in the face and the back of the head with human feces,’ police said.
Frank Abrokwa, 37, was arrested February 28 in relation to the stomach-churning incident – which was captured on security video – and charged with forcible touching, menacing, disorderly conduct and harassment.
On Thursday, a 58-year-old research scientist for the New York City Health Department was on her way home when she was kicked down the stairs at a Queens subway station and bashed in the head with a hammer.
Sickening surveillance video shows a robber kicking Dr Nina Rothschild down the steps and bashing her in the head repeatedly with a hammer, fracturing her skull days after Mayor Eric Adams vowed to crack down on violence in the transit system.
Rothschild’s brother, Gerson, is also a scientist in Upper Manhattan at Columbia University and managed to speak with his sister on Friday as she recovered from surgery. She remains critically-ill.
The weekend also saw a slew of subway-related incidents.
A man was shot in the chest during an argument on a Brooklyn subway station around 10 pm Sunday, police said, and rushed to a nearby hospital. He is expected to survive.
Moreover, the rash of incidents has not seemed to deaden this week, the second since Adams’ new crackdown, with three teenagers and a man stabbed Tuesday, possibly during a fight, in a different Brooklyn subway station.
Many blame the crime wave on the lingering effects of the pandemic, compounded by the closure of mental health facilities under the reign of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, as well as fewer cops due to the pandemic, vaccine mandates, and a smaller police budget spurred by the Defund the Police movement in 2020.
Joseph Giacalone, a crime data expert, former cop, and professor at the city’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told Fox News that the spate of subway crimes spells doom for a city ‘trying to get back on its feet’ after ‘the two big C’s’ – COVID and crime.
‘If you’re thinking that people are going to be willing to come back after COVID, maybe,’ Giacalone told the outlet.
‘But now you’re dealing with a crime issue – specifically in the subway, which is the lifeblood of New York City – if people fear going into the subways. And right now, when you look at these numbers, there is some reason to be hesitant.