A brutal hammer attack on an Asian man in a New York City subway station is being investigated by police as a possible hate crime.
NYPD officials said the victim was standing on the platform of train 2 when he got into an argument with another man after they ran into each other.
After an exchange of words, one of the men took out a hammer and hit the victim on the head, after which he fled the scene.
The victim, who remained conscious, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where police assessed his condition as stable.
Police describe the suspect as a man about 6 feet 2 inches tall, wearing a wig, purple lipstick, blue jeans, red shoes and a red jacket, and carrying a large bag.
An Asian man suffered head injuries after being hit by a hammer at 14th Station in New York. He was seen in an ambulance
NYPD investigators say an incident at Manhattan’s 14th Street station last night that left an Asian with head injuries is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
The victim, who remained conscious, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where police assessed his condition as stable.
The police added that the NYPD hate crime task force was notified of the attack, although it is not known if the attack was motivated by anti-Asian bias.
However, New York City is seeing a huge rise in hate crimes against Asians, with police figures showing 343 percent during the Covid pandemic.
As of February 27, hate crimes targeting all minorities, not just Asian Americans, were up more than 142 percent from the same period last year.
It follows a string of horrific incidents in Manhattan, including a homeless man confessing to fatally shoving an Asian woman in front of a Times Square subway train and a 65-year-old woman being kicked and trampled by a man yelling against Asian swear words.
Police describe the suspect as a man about 6 feet 2 inches tall, wearing a wig, purple lipstick, blue jeans, red shoes and a red jacket, and carrying a large bag.
This follows a string of horrific incidents in Manhattan including a homeless man confessing to fatally shoving an Asian woman in front of a Times Square subway train and a 65-year-old woman being kicked and trampled by a man yelling against Asian insults
In 2021, there was a 343 percent increase in hate crimes among Asian Americans, with 133 attacks. Hispanics are also seeing an increase in attacks, with eight attacks in 2021 compared to one in 2020.
Just last week, police launched a manhunt for a man suspected of a two-hour attack on seven Asian women.
In February, New York City Mayor Eric Adams fired Jessica Corey, the head of the NYPD’s hate crime division, who made arrests in less than half of all reported incidents.
“We were too slow to investigate [crimes] as possible hate crimes,” Adams said on Monday, commenting on Corey’s firing. “I wanted a new face, a new vision.”
During February, the NYPD reported a 58.7% increase in total crimes. The latest data showed 9,138 incidents, up from 5,759 in 2021 — with double-digit growth in almost all major categories.
Last year, only 219 people were arrested for hate crimes, although there were 524 such complaints. In 2020, there were 265 complaints and 93 arrests.
What does Adams’ plan to secure the NYC subway look like?
The Mayor’s plan outlines how the Adams administration, in partnership with the MTA and other state agencies, will address these parallel issues in New York City’s subway systems. Investing in people will provide immediate support and protection to New Yorkers, while investing in places like trust centers, safe havens, stabilization beds and Street Homeless Outreach Wellness vans, and policy changes at the local, state and federal levels. will provide medium and long term solutions. This includes:
- Deploy up to 30 joint response teams bringing together DHS, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the NYPD and local service providers to places of greatest need throughout the city.
- Train NYPD officers in the city’s subway system to ensure that the MTA and NYC Transportation Authority’s rules of conduct are met in a fair and transparent manner.
- Expanding “B-HEARD” Mental Health Emergency Response Teams to six new sites, more than doubling the number of sites covered to 11. These teams will expand an already successful pilot response to non-violent 911 emergency calls with specialists in the field. mental health.
- Inclusion of medical services in DHS sites serving the homeless. DHS Safe Havens and Stabilization Bed Expanded Programs will offer on-site physical and behavioral health care to address client needs immediately.
- Immediate improvement in government coordination through weekly “At-large Advocacy Working Group” meetings that bring together senior leaders from 13 city and state agencies to quickly resolve issues.
- Creation of new Drop-in centers to provide people with a direct path to the entrance to the premises, and exploring the possibility of placing Drop-in centers near major metro stations to directly transfer people from trains and platforms to safe places.
- Streamlining the assisted housing placement process and reducing the number of documents required to verify program eligibility.
- Call for State Government to Expand Psychiatric Bed Resources and Amend the Kendra Law to Improve Mental Health Care for New Yorkers Undergoing Outpatient Treatment with
- Demanding – instead of asking – everyone to leave the train and the station at the end of the line
Last year also saw a nearly 60 percent spike in total crime.
It comes almost two weeks after New York City launched its new “Subway Safety Plan,” a 17-page program to tackle a massive surge in transportation crime in a city that is still recovering.
There have been 276 crimes in the subway system since the beginning of the year, a 65% increase from the same period in 2021, according to the latest figures from the New York City Police Department.
Adams’ plan includes sending more police, psychiatrists, and social workers onto the subway. On Monday, Levy said a “phased” rollout is beginning.
The plan notes that more than 1,000 homeless people who use the subway as a refuge need help, not handcuffs, but says the police will implement a zero-tolerance policy and will crack down on sleeping, littering, smoking, drug use or being stuck in system. .
He calls for all passengers to be dropped off trains at the ends of their lines, an approach that has waxed and waned over the years.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which operates the metro, “knows that there are people in the metro system who need help and should and will get help.
“But they can’t stay on the subway system,” spokesman Aaron Donovan said.
Adams did not give any specific details or timeline for his plan last month, and given the chronic shortage of housing options, which are mostly offered at affordable prices for people who prefer to live on the subway, it was unclear where those who found homes they will leave underground if they are evicted, if there are no streets.
Details about the cost of the plan, or how it will be billed, remain scarce.
Shelley North, deputy executive director of the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless, warned against “criminalizing homelessness and mental illness” and suggested the city is resorting to policing strategies that have failed in the past.
However, she welcomed the plan’s measures, which include more psychiatric hospital beds, as well as shelters with private rooms and supportive housing that comes with on-site social services.
In recent years, the city has vacillated between reacting to concerns about subway crime and complaining about oppressive police work.
The last mayor, Democrat Bill de Blasio, sent more police into the system from time to time. Like Adams, just last month.
The exact number of homeless people living on the subway is not known, but an annual survey in January 2021 put an estimated figure at 1,300, and this was when the subway system was closed for four hours every night for disinfection.
The number of homeless people in the system is believed to have increased since then.
Before the pandemic in January 2020, 1,700 people lived in the metro.