Latest news with #subwaycrime
Daily Mail
06-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Why this dope smoking, privately educated Marxist - set to be New York's next mayor - could bankrupt the once proud city I call home: TOM LEONARD
The New York subway system has never exactly been a cosy place, but the past six months have seen two crimes take place there that appalled even its most hardened travellers. Three days before Christmas, a man approached a woman sleeping on a stationary F train at Coney Island, Brooklyn, at around 7.30am – and set her on fire. Surveillance video captured Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, an undocumented Guatemalan migrant, nonchalantly walking up to 57-year-old Debrina Kawam and using a cigarette lighter to ignite her clothes. Horrific CCTV footage showed Zapera-Calil – who told police he was a heavy drinker and smoker of a synthetic cannabis known as 'spice' or 'K2' – sitting on a station bench and watching as the woman burned to death.
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
New York Governor's embarrassing confession about migrant who set sleeping woman on fire on subway
New York Governor Kathy Hochul was left speechless in a humiliating moment during a tense congressional hearing when she was asked to name the illegal immigrant accused of setting a sleeping woman on fire aboard a Brooklyn subway train. The Democrat was grilled by GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, who blasted Hochul over her handling of the migrant crisis before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Thursday. 'Do you know who Sebastian Zapeta-Calil is?' Stefanik asked during the House hearing. Zapeta-Calil, a Guatemalan illegal immigrant, was accused of torching an innocent woman to death on a Brooklyn train last December. But Hochul was caught off guard and appeared clueless, unable to recognize the name. 'I'm sure you'll tell me,' Hochul replied. 'There's many cases.' 'I don't have the specific details at my disposal, no.' 'These are high-profile cases. New Yorkers know about them and you don't?' Stefanik responded. Hochul (pictured) was left speechless in a humiliating moment during a tense congressional hearing when she was asked to name the illegal immigrant accused of setting a sleeping woman on fire aboard a Brooklyn subway train 'Well this is an illegal migrant in New York because of your sanctuary state policies.' 'I bet you're gonna be familiar when I remind you, he found a sleeping woman on the subway, lit her on fire, and burned her alive. This is in Kathy Hochul's New York.' 'And as I'm sure you are aware, and I'll remind you that ICE issued an order to detain this violent criminal, but that was rejected by New York officials due to sanctuary state laws,' Stefanik continued. 'I just want to say this, these crimes are horrific,' Hochul replied. 'I condemn them.' 'Because of your sanctuary state policies,' Stefanik said. 'In all of these cases, we would work with ICE to remove them,' the governor replied. The embarrassing moment comes as Stefanik eyes a run against Hochul in 2026. Hochul appeared alongside Democrats Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the hearing. She's positioning herself as the law-and-order candidate who protects New Yorkers from violent criminals. US Representative Jim Jordan, and US Elise Stefanik, listen during a Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on 'A Hearing with Sanctuary State Governors' This comes as New York - one of America's most Democratic states - is experiencing a dramatic shift to the right for the first time in decades. A poll that was released last month found New York could be competitive for Republicans as candidates eye challenging unpopular Democratic Governor running for reelection. A GrayHouse poll found that just 36 percent approve of New York Governor Kathy Hochul's performance and 55 percent disapprove. The poll shows that rising Republican star Elise Stefanik, 40, is within striking distance of Hochul if she decides to run a campaign for governor. Forty-six percent of voters said they would vote for Hohul, while Stefanik would earn 40 percent of the vote. Fourteen percent of voters were undecided. After having her nomination for Ambassador to the U.N. scrubbed due to the House's tight GOP majority, Stefanik remains in the House. The harsh exchange was reminiscent of another congressional hearing that skyrocketed Stefanik into GOP legend. In 2023 the lawmaker issued scathing questionings of the then-presidents of Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania. The administrator's defense of antisemitic protests on campus in the wake of the October 7 attacks eventually led to both presidents being ousted, sealing a tangible GOP victory for Stefanik and Republicans over the Ivy League universities. This time, however, Stefanik could aim at her most likely opponent in a potential 2026 matchup. A Siena College poll from late May found that Stefanik and Hochul would likely win their respective primaries, Democrats still hold the very early edge in the general election. It's been 23 years since a Republican won a governor's race in New York. The top House Democrat, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, urged the congresswoman to run on Thursday. 'Here's my political advice for Elise Stefanik: Run, Elise, run,' baiting he Republican. GOP N.Y. Rep. Mike Lawler is also reportedly considering a run, though he, like Stefanik has not made any official announcements.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- 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
07-06-2025
- 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.
