Latest news with #subwaycrime
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Cops ask public's help ID'ing muggers who stabbed, beat Bronx subway rider
Cops released surveillance photos of a trio of brutes wanted for punching, repeatedly stabbing and robbing a man on a Bronx train last month. The three muggers, believed to be in their 20s, remain on the lam after the violent May 11 attack, which left 39-year-old Alberto Abreu Contreras knocked unconscious on the E. 167th St. subway station platform in Highbridge. Surveillance photos show one mugger wearing an olive-green hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and black sneakers. The others are both pictured wearing white jackets, with black masks covering their faces. It was not immediately clear which man stabbed Contreras, cops said. The victim was on his way home from his job as a valet, riding the No. 4 train heading north around 2:19 a.m. when he was approached by the three men, who ordered him to hand over his 14-karat gold Jesus medallion chain. When he didn't cooperate, the trio grabbed the jewelry and pulled the victim out onto the train platform. 'If you don't give me your stuff I'm going to stab you,' one of the men threatened, police sources told the Daily News. The crooks then furiously attacked Contreras, punching him in the face and one suspect stabbing him in the abdomen and torso, before they took off with the wounded victim's chain, EarPods, Samsung Galaxy A23 phone and IDs. 'I was sitting on the train, and a guy grabbed me by my chain through my hoodie,' Contreras told The News a day after the assault. 'He dragged me out onto the platform, I held onto the guy for dear life. There was two more guys that came to help him. They said, 'Let him go'. He was saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' in Spanish, and he ran down the escalator.' Contreras was unconscious following the beatdown and said he woke up at Lincoln Hospital, where he was initially in critical condition. After surgery he was expected to recover. 'I still feel the pain,' Contreras told The News. 'They put tubes in my stomach to see if there was internal bleeding. It is what it is, this goes with the neighborhood. This can happen to anyone.' Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls are confidential.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
‘Hall of Fame' repeat offender with some 230 arrests in trouble again with 4 busts in just a month
The serial transit offender with about 230 total arrests who cops slammed as a candidate for the subway crime 'Hall of Fame' is in trouble again as he racked up four more busts over the past month before being dumped back onto the street, law enforcement sources said. Michael Wilson, 37 – who sources say committed 90 percent of his crimes in the subway system – was nabbed for the 25th time this year on Tuesday for allegedly riding between cars on a train passing through the 42nd Street-Times Square station, according to the sources. He then lied about his personal info to arresting officers, according to the sources. Wilson was also busted on May 25 for allegedly lying across multiple seats on a train car in Brooklyn, police said. On May 12, he was nabbed for allegedly smoking crack cocaine on a staircase at Riverside Drive and 104th Street on the Upper West Side, and then tossing the residue down the steps, cops and sources said. And on May 6, Wilson was charged with allegedly smoking crack on a moving train in Harlem, police said. He was released on each of the cases – which is nothing new for the serial offender, who earlier this year drew the ire of NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper. 'If there was a hall of fame for Subway offenders — this guy would be a first ballot inductee,' NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper wrote in a scathing X post. 'And yet, certain parts of our criminal justice system seem to think otherwise.' Kemper's comments came after Wilson's Feb. 2 bust, when cops caught him swiping a rider through a turnstile with a MetroCard in exchange for cash, law enforcement sources said. He was ordered to leave the West 34th Street and Seventh Avenue subway station during the 10 a.m. ordeal, but he refused, and started to flail his arms and stiffen his body in an effort to avoid arrest. Eventually officers placed Wilson under arrest. They found six MetroCards in his possession, which they bent along their magnetic strips to render them unusable. He also had a student MetroCard. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office ultimately let him off without prosecution 'in the interest of justice,' according to sources. Kemper took exception to the DA's rationale, referencing it verbatim in his X post. 'Justice for whom? Recidivist criminals or law abiding NYers who simply want to travel on the subways free of harassment or open acts of lawlessness?' Kemper said. A spokesperson for Bragg said at the time that his office continues to 'hold accountable those who jeopardize the safety of other passengers and transit workers in our subways. 'Last year's decrease in transit crime throughout the borough was the result of close collaboration with our law enforcement partners, and we are continuing that work every day,' the spokesperson said. Before that bust, Wilson was arrested on two criminal tampering charges on Jan. 17, and seven others on Jan. 13, according to the sources. On Jan. 3, he was arrested and slapped with 11 charges – 10 for criminal tampering and one for theft of service, the sources said. The career criminal – whose first arrest was back in 2004 – was arrested 232 times over the years, but dozens of those cases have been sealed, bringing the unsealed total to 170, according to the sources. A whopping 135 of his arrests have been on felony charges, but he's only been convicted of felonies four times, with one of them a violent felony, according to the sources. His parole was also revoked several times, the sources said. He has also racked up 53 misdemeanor convictions, the sources said. Wilson had also been issued more than 30 bench warrants to failure to appear in court, according to the sources.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Transit crime drops, but felony assaults in NYC subway rise 19%
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Despite an overall drop in transit crime, felony assaults in New York City's subway system have jumped 19 percent this year, according to NYPD data through the end of May. Police stats show that there have been 828 reported crimes across the subway system in 2025, down nearly six percent from the 876 incidents reported during the same time last year. More Local News Felony assaults, however, are moving in the opposite direction, with 255 reported incidents so far in 2025 compared to 214 during the same time frame last year. Straphangers reacted to the uptick in subway assaults. 'It makes me question whether or not police are really in the right place or doing the right things,' said Jason Zhong, a subway rider. 'Maybe they should divert their focus somewhere else.' Former NYPD Lieutenant Dr. Darrin Porcher said the key to combating the uptick in subway assaults is precision-based policing. 'Precision-based policing is deploying police officers to areas where you have the greatest propensity for crime,' he said. 'So, if you see there's a lot of crime on 34th street on the two-train southbound, you want to have more officers on that two-train southbound platform.' NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has previously credited the 24/7 increase in police patrols, particularly on stations and platforms, where nearly 80 percent of subway crimes happen, with driving the overall decline in transit crime. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State Still, violent attacks are on the rise. Just days ago, police reported a stabbing at the Grant Avenue station in Brooklyn. While some riders say the increased police presence gives them peace of mind, others question how effective that presence really is. 'I feel safe,' said John Baosamo, a subway rider. 'I do see a lot of policemen, but I also see a lot of policemen not really looking at the boots. They're looking at their cell phone.' The NYPD said that out of all the felony assaults in the transit system this year, 73 of them have been assaults on police officers. PIX11 News asked the NYPD whether any new efforts or adjustments are being made in response to the recent rise in felony assaults on the subway. As of now, we're still waiting to hear back. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Butterfingers NYC suspect drops gun in front of cops before falling down subway station stairs
This was no criminal mastermind. Two cops patrolling a Brooklyn subway platform last week were stunned when a strapped-hanger exited a train and dropped loaded Ruger pistol right at their feet. He scooped it up and ran — and proceeded to fall down a flight of stairs. The male and female partners eventually caught up to Stanley Spencer, 39, after the 3:30 p.m. fumble on May 2 at the Pennsylvania Avenue Station. 'I bet he was trying to adjust [the gun in his waistband] so they can't see it and BOOM he drops it,' said retired NYPD detective and John Jay College adjunct professor Michael Alcazar. With the cops hot on his heels, Spencer fell while while descending the station's stairs but made it outside and tried to hide the 9mm pistol under a car, according to police and a complaint filed in Brooklyn Criminal Court. The gun had seven bullets in the magazine, the complaint states. Spencer was charged with gun possession, police said. He has 14 prior arrests that are all sealed, police sources said. One of the arrests was for weapon possession, the sources said. Gun arrests in the city's subway system are down 28% overall so far this year over the same period in 2024, from 25 to 18, NYPD data show. Alcazar said additional officers assigned to the subway system by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch were acting as a deterrent. 'I would attribute the gun arrests being down to the additional officers in the subways,' Alcazar said, noting that the cops are stopping so-called 'fare beaters.' 'You don't want to jump a turnstile when you have a gun.'
Free Malaysia Today
08-05-2025
- Free Malaysia Today
Japanese man charged with attempted murder after knife attack
The subway knife attack injured two people during rush hour yesterday. (Kyodo News/AP pic) TOKYO : Tokyo police said today they had charged a man with attempted murder after an alleged knife attack on the subway that reportedly injured two people during rush hour the previous day. Yoshitaka Toda, 43, was arrested yesterday evening at Todai-mae Station in the Japanese capital on suspicion of assaulting a man in his 20s, a police spokesman told AFP. The suspect, 'with the intent to kill, slashed the victim's head and other body parts with a knife-like object that he was carrying, causing injuries', the spokesman said, reading from a prepared statement without elaborating. Local media said Toda allegedly attacked the victim several times – first on the station's platform, before the victim dashed inside a subway car where Toda chased him and slashed his head several more times. Other passengers apprehended Toda, who was arrested by police on the spot, reports said. Toda and the victim are not believed to have known each other, local media said, adding that one other passenger who helped apprehend the attacker also cut his hand. Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world's toughest gun laws. But there are occasional stabbing rampages and even shootings, including the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. A 24-year-old man stabbed a passenger and started a fire on a train in Tokyo on Halloween in 2021 while wearing an outfit resembling comic book villain the Joker.
