Kathy Hochul have vowed to make the subway safer after a series of violent episodes, including stabbings and fatal shoves, that have often involved homeless people attacking others. “Because police are not doing their job, that’s why the citizens of New York are taking the law into their hands,” she said. Neely’s death, the incident supported her belief that the police need to be doing more. Tarannum said that while she deeply regretted Mr. Though it is unclear if there were police officers nearby or on the train, Ms. Rahnuma Tarannum, 25, a data analyst who lives in Brooklyn, said that she felt so unsafe on the subway that she carried pepper spray. “If I see something happen, I get up and go to the next car,” he said, adding: “You don’t get involved - you could end up hurt, you could end up killed.” Neely was removed from the train and taken to a hospital, David Alexander, 45, a superintendent who lives in Manhattan, said that he avoided volatile subway riders and would not risk intervening himself. On Thursday at the Broadway-Lafayette station in Manhattan, where Mr. Others are so accustomed to conflict that they ignore it. Many have grown worried about safety on the subway after experiencing violence or reading about it in the news.

Neely, a subway performer and dancer who also had a history of mental illness and erratic behavior, had been yelling at passengers, saying he was hungry and thirsty, but also at one point that he was ready to die, according to one witness.Įvery New Yorker has a story of witnessing an outburst or a violent episode on the subway and struggling over how to respond: To confront or flee to intervene when two riders are at odds to call for a police officer, or to look away. On the F train in Manhattan on Monday, Mr. “There are many layers to this,” he said at an unrelated news conference. Adams, a former transit police officer in his second year as mayor, said on Thursday that he would wait to weigh in until the police and the prosectors had investigated what happened. Adams called their comments irresponsible in an interview on CNN on Wednesday night. Neely had been “murdered” and another left-leaning official, Brad Lander, the city comptroller, called his attacker a “vigilante,” Mr.

Neely’s death, the debate has become especially heated. These cities have sought out innovative solutions to assist those with mental illness - pouring money into housing programs, street teams and community centers - and have also cleared subway homeless encampments, and weighed harsher tactics.

Paper Cuts by Ellery Adams