Police blotter
Homeless man cuffed for
slashing two people just blocks
apart near Union Square
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
A homeless man was arrested on Sunday
night after he allegedly slashed
two people in the face near Union
Square.
According to police, at 10 p.m. on Sept.
20, the NYPD responded to a call regarding
two assaults in the vicinity of West 13th
Street and 6th Avenue. Upon their arrival,
offi cers learned that a 39-year-old woman
had been slashed in the face at the location.
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
Just blocks away, another victim, a
59-year-old man, was slashed in the face
shortly after the fi rst victim. Both victims
suffered lacerations to the left sides of their
faces and were taken to Bellevue Hospital
for treatment.
Shortly after the attack police apprehended
25-year-old Khari Walker. Walker,
who police say is homeless, was allegedly
panhandling in the area prior to the assault.
Walker was charged with assault, criminal
possession of a weapon and harassment.
Suspect sought for writing hate
speech near Washington Square
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE NYPD
Vandal charged for sparking disruptive A train derailment
BY MARK HALLUM AND
ROBERT POZARYCKI
Detectives cuffed a Bronx man
Sunday night for allegedly throwing
debris onto the tracks of the
8th Avenue-14th Street subway station on
Sunday morning that caused an A train derailment
that forced more than 135 people
to be evacuated and snarled several train
lines.
Demetrius Harvard, 30, of Mapes
Avenue faces charges of reckless endangerment,
criminal mischief, assault and
criminal trespass for allegedly causing the
derailment.
Law enforcement sources said that
moments before the northbound A train
went off the tracks, at about 8:18 a.m. on
Sept. 20, Harvard was observed hurling
construction debris onto the track. That
caused the train’s fi rst car to derail upon
entering the station. Harvard was taken
into custody at the scene.
In a press conference on Sunday, MTA
A closed entrance to the 14th Street-8th Avenue A/C/E/L train station.
Chief Safety Offi cer Pat Warren said the
front four tracks came of the rail leading
several hundred feet of damage to third
track as well as steel support pillars between
tracks.
“We’ve ruled out that this was due to
any malfunctioning of our equipment or
BY EMILY
DAVENPORT
Cops are looking
for a suspect who
tagged a building
near Washington Square
Park with anti-Black and
anti-Semitic statements.
According to police, at
1:35 p.m. on Sept. 12, an
unknown man was outside
of 31 Washington Place
when he pulled out a black
marker to draw swastikas
and hate speech on the
building. A spokesperson
to the NYPD said that the
suspect wrote “Jew = n—
–r” and “kill the n—–r”
with the marker.
The suspect then fl ed
the scene on foot. Police
released photos and video
of the suspect taken on
Washington Place shortly
after the incident:
Anyone with information
in regard to this incident is
asked to call the NYPD’s
Crime Stoppers Hotline
at 1-800-577-TIPS
(8477) or for Spanish,
1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit
their tips by logging
onto the Crime Stoppers
website or on Twitter @
NYPDTips. All calls are
kept confi dential.
“I am appalled to
see media reports of hateful
anti-Semitic and anti-Black
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
any inappropriate action on the part of our
crews. What it appears to be is some form
vandalism from something that was put on
the track,” Warren said.
Acting MTA New York City Transit
President Sarah Feinberg said the train
struck debris on the roadbed as it pulled
graffi ti scrawled on the side
of an NYU building,” said
Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“The fact that Rosh Hashanah
begins tonight makes
this bigoted graffi ti all the
more hurtful, as does the
placement on a building
dedicated to education.
This is not who we are
as New Yorkers and I am
directing the New York
State Police Hate Crimes
Task Force to assist in the
investigation immediately.”
into the 8th Avenue-14th Street station,
which caused a wheel to leave the track.
It also caused a loss of power that
stopped another A train 20 blocks north,
according to Feinberg.
Transport Workers Union Local 100
President Tony Utano said the derailment,
which saw the MTA fl ex its manpower with
over 100 workers on scene, stood as proof
that the struggling agency cannot afford
to reduce staff in the face of the fi nancial
impacts from COVID-19.
“This was an all-hands on deck emergency
with transit workers from multiple
divisions responding to assist riders and
then begin repairing the extensive damage.
It’s a stark reminder that the MTA can’t
cut its front-line workers even if the federal
government fails to provide funding in a
COVID relief package,” Utano said.
The derailment impacted the A, C, D, E
and F trains, all of which were rerouted. It
also caused “extremely limited” service on
affected lines in uptown Manhattan and the
Bronx for much of Sunday.
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6 Sept. 24, 2020 Schneps Media