A Fox News weatherman was badly beaten on the New York subway after telling a group of teenagers to stop harassing an elderly man.
Adam Klotz, 37, was attacked by “five or six” teenagers who slapped him in the face and kicked him in the chest, leaving him with a black eye and injured ribs.
Three of the teenagers, two aged 15 and one 17, were caught by police who took their details and contacted their parents to pick them up in the early hours of Sunday morning, a police source told the New York Post.
In 2022, subway crime increased 30 percent from 2021, according to the city.
Fox News weatherman Adam Klotz, 37, was beaten by teenagers on the subway after telling them to stop molesting an old man
Klotz, who is originally from Indiana, took to Instagram to explain the wounds on his face and the context of the incident, which occurred around 1:15 a.m. near the 18th Street station on the 1 train.
He said he was on his way home after watching the New York Giants NFL playoff game when he saw the teenagers molesting an old man.
‘Come home last night to watch this [New York] Giants game in a bar, on the subway, this elderly gentleman was molested by this group of seven or eight teenagers,” he said.
Klotz added, “I was like, ‘Yo, guys, cut that out.’ And they decided, “Okay, he ain’t gonna get it, then you’re gonna get it,” and boy did they give it to me. They had me on the ground, my ribs are all sorts of bruises too. They brought in their hits.’
Klotz had injuries to the boy’s eyes and abrasions to his face, but said the wounds on his body were worse
The beatings occurred at around 1:15 a.m. at the 18th Street station by the 1 train
The old man Klotz said he was defending was fine and escaped unharmed, he said.
“Juvenile reports were prepared and their parents were called to pick them up,” an NYPD official told the Post Sunday.
Klotz’s face was clearly battered and tender, both eyelids were red and purple, but the weatherman made it clear his injuries would heal. “I took X-rays. i’m ok This will heal everything. So it’s all good,” he said.
“You should see the other one,” Klotz joked. “My side is so much worse than my face, and the thing is, the other guy isn’t really a guy. they are children Five or six children.”
It appears that while three teenagers were arrested by the NYPD, the rest managed to escape. While Klotz said in the video that some of the teens were “grabbed,” it’s not clear if he knew they were being released, but he joked, “New York City! The big apple!’
The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment Sunday afternoon.
NYPD data showed that transit crime had increased 42% through October 2022. For the full year, subway crime increased 30 percent
Crime on the subway has risen over the past year, but Mayor Eric Adams has suggested those stats simply reflect the fact that more people are using them in post-pandemic New York.
Subway crime rose 30 percent in 2022, outpacing the 22 percent increase in general major crime across the city.
In response to the subway’s high crime rate, the city has sought to deploy more NYPD officers to man stations. This year, the department is spending an additional $20 million each month on police overtime, Bloomberg reported.
However, during the conference earlier this month, which Adams and Chief of Transit Michael Kemper attended, the two opted to compare the 2022 number to 2019.
“When comparing crime from 2022 to 2019, subway crime fell 7.7 percent and was the lowest since 2014. In fact, when comparing overall crime in transit to pre-pandemic years, 2022 was the lowest year in over 25 years,” said Kemper.