NYC Mayor Eric Adams blames social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram for the violent crime in his city.
“When someone sees something on TikTok, Instagram or one of these social media platforms, they duplicate this behavior,” he explained. pic.twitter.com/wqDj56YVql
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) April 3, 2024
Helmets Now Required Simply to Walk Around in NYC.
From the remove of my relatively safe suburban town, I’ve watched the demise of my once-beloved New York City with a combination of horror and bemusement. Its descent into third-world s**thole status was foreseeable, but it’s still sad. And while the erstwhile greatest city on Earth has phoenixed itself from the ashes more than once, it seems ever more likely that perhaps the damage is too devastating to recover from this time.
On Sunday, Michael Stuhlbarg, a fairly well-known actor, was taking in the evening air on the Upper East Side near Central Park when a troglodyte whacked him in the back of the neck with a rock. (A varying report says the Neanderthal flung the rock in the actor’s direction.) Stuhlbarg chased his assailant until police were able to arrest 27-year-old Xavier Israel, a homeless man who — all together now — has been arrested before, including for assault and robbery.
Stuhlbarg refused treatment at the scene. Opening Night of his new Broadway play “Patriots” was scheduled for the following evening, so he probably didn’t have time for the NYC emergency department rigamarole. Israel, who was out on parole, was charged with assault and harassment and — shockingly — held on $50,000 cash bail — at least, as of this writing.
Mere hours after the rock attack, a woman who was minding her own business in Midtown was whacked in the back. No mere rock was good enough for her attacker though; he had a hammer with him, presumably in case the opportunity arose to batter someone. The New York Post reports:
A moped-riding maniac slammed a hammer into a woman’s back – after grimly warning her, “Nobody’s gonna find you here” – in an unprovoked attack inside Central Park early Monday, cops said.
The stranger approached the 39-year-old victim at 64th Street and Center Drive inside the iconic greenspace around 12:15 a.m. and made the ominous threat, police said.
He then used the implement to strike her in the back without warning, authorities said.
The attacker then zipped away on his moped and had not been caught by later Monday, cops said.