Do-It-Yourself Surveillance Camera at Work!

Cops looking for teens who beat up woman on the J train in Brooklyn 

by Dan Rivoli

Police released photos Friday of four teens accused of pummeling a woman on the J train in Brooklyn.

The teen assailants were arguing with one another on a Queens-bound J train — and then started making remarks to the victim, a 29-year-old woman, around 9:45 p.m. Nov. 9, cops said.

The victim began to record the teens on her smartphone, prompting one of the teen girls — seen in the photo with short, blond hair — to punch her in the head near the Cleveland St. station in East New York, police said.

These thugs were not very smart.

They should have stolen the woman's phone.

Since the MTA, supported by the NYPD leadership, does not want surveillance cameras in subway cars or on subway platforms they could have gotten away scot free.

http://nydn.us/1IeXuPz

Man struck by E train in Forest Hills

 By Thomas Tracy, Keldy Ortiz

A 58-year-old man walking along the tracks in a Queens train station was struck and killed by an oncoming train early Saturday, cops said.

The northbound E train slammed into the victim at the 75th Ave. Station near Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills about 3:10 a.m., officials said.

The man died at the scene, and his name was not immediately released.

Witnesses told police they had seen the victim walking along the track bed right moments [sic] before he was hit.

It was not immediately clear why he was on the tracks, cops said.

ttracy@nydailynews.com

Right.

Got it.

People are constantly going for strolls on the MTAs subway tracks.

Especially in the early morning hours.

Why in 2012 more than twenty of these "walkers" were struck and killed by trains.

Sadly for anyone interested in the truth, there are no "dash cams" in train operators' cabs.

Gladly for the MTA lawyers (and their NYPD flunkies) there are no "dash cams."

A cam might have revealed that this so-called "walker" had actually been shoved off the platform by thugs.

Video of Attempted Murder in the Subway!

Er, I mean the Underground which is what London's underground mass transit rail system is called.

The video was recorded at Piccadilly Circus station on a Bakerloo line platform at 4pm on Tuesday.

A British Transport Police spokesman reported that the woman escaped with minor injuries after the incident.

Japanese national Yoshiyuki Shinohara, 81, of no fixed abode, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' court yesterday charged with attempted murder.

We now know that surveillance videos record crimes in the transit systems of London, Moscow and Philadelphia. But New York's MTA knows that cameras would interfere with their control over the media, prevent them from declaring that all unwitnessed track deaths are accidents, and generally make their jobs more difficult.

No Video of Attempted Murder

Stranger Pushes Man Onto F Train Tracks at East Broadway Station, NYPD Says

 

Police said a man pushed a 58-year-old man onto the tracks on Nov. 11, 2015.

DNAinfo/Lisha Arino

LOWER EAST SIDE — A straphanger waiting for an F train at East Broadway was pushed onto the train tracks by a stranger early Wednesday morning, police said.

The 58-year-old victim was standing on the platform at approximately 3:45 a.m. when a man pushed him onto the tracks before fleeing on a Brooklyn-bound F train, according to the NYPD.

The victim was able to get back onto the platfrom and ran to the Stop 1 Deli located nearby on Madison Street and Rutgers slip, according to police sources.

Police said the victim hurt his leg and back during the fall and called for assistance. He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital for evaluation.

Police said the attacker wore a black leather jacket and a black hat. It was not immediately clear whether any arrests had been made in connection to the incident.
— Additional reporting by Murray Weiss.

 

 What would the NYPD tell the public if this man had been struck and killed by a train and (at 3:45 am) there were no witnesses? "There is no evidence of foul play."

Here's NYPD's description of the perp:  "... wore a black leather jacket and a black hat." 

Why does the public put up with the lack of cameras in the world's deadliest transit system? 

Recall the number of unwitnessed fatal "accidents" that occurred in 2012: twenty-five.

How long will it take New York's media to address this outrage?

Now the MTA/NYPD have stopped reporting any such unwitnessed deaths.

Here's a question for you: What do you think the managers of MTA and the Transit Division of NYPD  tell their sons and daughters (and nieces and nephews) about the safety of using the subway system late at night?

Note made on August 16, 2016: Because the original link is not functioning I have quoted the DNAinfo article in its entirety. 

Three Deaths, Zero Videos

Straphangers heave subway car off Queens man trapped, killed by J train

Subway trains kill 2 in separate incidents in Manhattan, Brooklyn

The world's most secretive transit system in action.

No cameras on platforms.

No dash cams in the train operator's cabin.

And unlike 2012 when there were 25 such incidents, no unwitnessed struck-by-train fatalities were reported by the comatose New York media.

Congratulations to the MTA lawyers and their flunkies on the NYPD!

Congratulations to New York City's vaunted media! 

Man fatally struck by D train in Brooklyn

It was a grisly way to go.

by Keldy Ortiz, Thomas Tracy

kortiz@nydailynews.com

"A man who ended up on the trackbed of an elevated Brooklyn subway station fell between the slats up to his chest — and was then struck by an oncoming D train early Saturday, officials said.

"The unidentified man, in his 20s, was found dead at the 79th St. station near New Utrecht Ave. in Bensonhurst — his lower body seen dangling beneath the elevated subway line — about 4:50 a.m., officials said."

Ho hum.

My prediction: This horrific death will be classified as an "accident."

That will happen because the NYPD is more concerned about keeping the MTA lawyers happy and subway crime "statistics" low than they are in arresting murderers.

Another prediction: The New York media will publish nothing more on this death. After all, "accidents" late at night on the subway are regular "ho hum" events.

And yet another prediction: the media will continue to ignore the absence of surveillance cameras on platforms, the place where "accidents" originate.

 ... and another: the media will also ignore the absence of cameras on the front of trains which in this case might have recorded some thugs leaving the scene.

Do It Yourself Surveillance Photo!

Straphanger Exposes Himself on Midtown R Train, Police Say

by Noah Horowitz

MIDTOWN EAST — Police are on the lookout for a man accused of indecent exposure and touching himself in front of straphangers on a Midtown R train. The victim, a 27-year-old woman, was on a southbound R train approaching the East 59th Street and Lexington Avenue station at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 when she noticed the man exposing and touching himself, police said. The woman managed to snap a photo of the man before leaving the train at the station, police said.

 

 

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151012/midtown-east/straphanger-exposes-himself-on-midtown-r-train-police-say

Ho-hum.

Just another criminal confident that the NYPD/MTA will continue to leave subway passengers unprotected by official surveillance cameras.

They have them at turnstiles to catch the criminals the MTA really worries about: fare beaters.

But this guy or the murderous thugs who prowl subways in the off hours have nothing to worry about.

Congratulations to the victim for taking the picture and good luck to any cops who might be looking for him.

Man, 62, fatally struck by L train in Brooklyn after stumbling onto tracks: police

A 62-year-old man was fatally struck by a train after stumbling onto the tracks at a Brooklyn subway station on Tuesday, police said.

The man fell onto the tracks moments before a northbound L train rolled into the Wilson Ave. station in Bushwick around 6:30 p.m., police said.

The rider was struck by the train and pronounced dead at the scene, cops said.

Police did not suspect any criminality.

by Rocco Parascandola, Joseph Stepansky

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/man-62-fatally-struck-train-brooklyn-fall-article-1.2388071

Stumbled?

Pushed?

Let's review the video tape to be sure.

/ Sarcasm.

Of course there are no cameras on the platform.

Of course there are no cameras on the front of trains.

Who benefits from the lack of cameras?

1. MTA lawyers.

2. NYPD police supervisors.

3. Criminals.

Man Beaten To Death on Subway Platform

This vicious criminal was arrested, but no thanks to surveillance cameras.

The MTA/NYPD policy of minimizing surveillance cameras in the transit system could have protected this killer.

All he had to do was to roll the body onto the tracks.

Unless there was a civilian witness willing to cooperate with the police, the death would have been blamed on the victim.

The police would have assured the media—if they had learned somehow of the death—"There is no evidence of foul play."

Yes, this killer criminal was caught.

But he has only himself to blame..  

Man Killed by Subway Train in East Village

From today's Daily News:

A straphanger was killed early Thursday when he was struck by an oncoming L train in the East Village, officials said.

The unidentified commuter was at the Third Ave. station near E. 14th St. at about 4:45 a.m. when the train rammed into him.

First responders rushed to the scene, but the victim could not be saved, officials said.

Further details were not immediately revealed.

Ho hum.

Another violent death-by-train.

Late at night when there are few witnesses.

We can count on the following:

If there were no witnesses (civilians, not TA employees) the death will automatically be classified as "accident" and the NYPD will undertake no investigation just as they did for 25 deaths in 2012.

There are likely no surveillance camera recordings of the incident. (MTA lawyers hate surveillance cameras.)

If there happen to be surveillance cameras, no pictures will be released.

The media will quickly forget about this violent death.

Ho hum.

Two Crimes. Zero Surviellance Photos

FINANCIAL DISTRICT —  Two robbers attacked a straphanger riding the 2 train last week, grabbing a $1,200 bracelet off the victim's wrist, and snatching his iPhone and $400 Beats headphones last week, police said.

The man was riding a southbound 2 train at about 8 a.m. on June 13 when the male robbers lunged at him, according to the NYPD. One stomped on his foot and snatched the phone and headphones, before the other ripped the bracelet off his wrist, police said.

Both fled from the train at the Park Place station, the NYPD said.

by Irene Plagianos

In the following case note how many times the robber is on a train platform with his victim.
 
WILLIAMSBURG — A 22-year-old man who gave a man an MTA swipe at the Hewes Street J train station ended up getting robbed by the moocher, police said.

The victim was at the train station on Sunday, June 7 at roughly 2 a.m. when a man approached him and asked to be swiped into the station, police said.

The victim swiped him in and the two started talking and walking toward the northbound platform, police said.

But once [on the platform], the suspect pulled out a black revolver with a wooden handle from his waistband and ordered the victim to empty his pockets, police said.

The victim handed over $10 in cash and an LG Optimus phone. The man then noticed that the victim had a Chase Debit card and demanded that they exit the station to go to an ATM, police said.

The man forced the victim to take out $500 and $40 in two separate transactions, police said.

Then they left, and the suspect took the victim back to the train platform, where he waited for the victim to board the next J train.

The suspect — who was described as 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds — then fled the station.

by Serena Dai

Perhaps NYPD can ask the bank for tapes from the ATM.

Question to consider: If the robber pushed the victim down to the tracks where he was struck and killed by a train (remember, at 2am on a Sunday) would NYPD have announced "There is no evidence of foul play?"

Is There a News Blackout?

A Transit Police official once brazenly admitted (scroll down) to a reporter that they did not routinely report the occurrence of serious crimes. Recently, they seem to have implemented a complete news blackout on violent deaths in the system; the routine reporting of "accidents" by DNAinfo which was prevalent in 2012 and prior years slowed in 2013 and ceased completely in 2014. Initially I found this sudden adoption of a blackout puzzling. But having learned recently that some surveillance cameras are now present in the system, the blackout makes sense.

Following the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center the MTA faced a new potential problem: a terrorist attack of the subway. An attack would be a much bigger problem than individual unwitnessed homicides committed by common thugs.  And it could not be "managed" by news suppression. 

These newly installed cameras create a problem for MTA officials. If they and the NYPD have, for many years, deliberately ignored the probability of track homicides, the new cameras would record, not lone passengers volunteering to descend to the tracks, but victims forced off platforms by thugs.

With cameras scanning likely crime scenes, journalists could ask to see the tapes and lawyers for victims families could request that courts order their release.

If I am wrong and the MTA is not effectively covering up homicides, one would expect them to have continued informing the media of track deaths and inviting journalists to look at the tapes showing that the deaths really were accidental.

But if I am right and the MTA/NYPD know that the deaths they've been blaming on the victims were most likely homicides, then imposition of a complete news blackout makes sense. If journalists do not know that someone has been killed they could not ask to see the tape.

Moreover, if surveillance cameras routinely record over earlier images, the evidence of a crime would soon be lost forever.  

My conclusion: the reported decrease of annual unwitnessed track deaths from twenty-five in 2012 to zero in 2014 is the result of deliberate news suppression by the authorities. 

MTA/NYPD to New Yorkers: Carry Your Own Surveillance Camera!

This is a photo of a man the NYPD suspects slapped the "behind" of a female passenger on a subway train.

It is not the product of an MTA surveillance camera.

It was taken by the victim.

So, unlike transit passengers in other cities (including Moscow!) are forewarned: the authorities make it extremely difficult to apprehend criminals. They do that by minimizing surveillance cameras.

 

Putting Cameras Where Crimes Do Not Happen

The NYPD has released this photo of a man wanted for slashing a woman in "the world's safest subway system" (/sarcasm.)

I suppose we should be pleased that a subway assault has even been reported in the media and we should hope that the photo of him in a turnstile leads to his arrest, but why is there no video of the actual attack?
 

Three Subway Crimes ... but No Surveillance Photos

1. Man Groped 12-year-Old Boy on N Train, Police Say

2. Knife-Wielding Thief Snatches Woman's Bag as She Rides the 1 Train: NYPD

3. Quick-Thinking Victim Snaps Picture of Groper on 4 Train, Police Say

Once again the MTA/NYPD demonstrates it is less concerned about protecting passengers from criminals, less concerned about identifying criminals so they might be arrested than the managers of subways in Philadelphia, Washington DC and Moscow, Russia.

NYPD Releases Video of a Crime!

A street crime.

Not a subway crime.

Crimes do not occur in the New York subway system.

At least, no crimes that are recorded by NYPD videos and released to the media.

Surveillance Camera in Subway Car Records an Assault

In Chicago.

Not in New York.

Never in New York.

The New York Daily News reports these not-in-New-York surveillance camera stories but their editors never complain about the lack of cameras in the world's largest mass transit system.

Attack on a Subway Platform Recorded on Surveillance Video!

In Philadelphia.

Never in New York.

Possible reasons:

Either ...

1. New York's MTA and the NYPD run the most crime-free mass transit system in the world.

 ... OR ...

2. New York's MTA with the eager assistance of the NYPD operate the Western world's*  most successful suppression of "unpleasant" news.

*North Korea may be more suppressive.

See it: Mob of teenagers beats two high school students in Philadelphia subway station.

Does New York have a single video surveillance camera pointed at subway platforms?

Moscow, Philadelphia and Washington DC have Surveillance Cameras

New York subway riders are just as decent and as brave as the DC passengers who rescued a man who accidentally drove his motorized wheelchair off the platform and down to the dangerous Metro tracks.

But New York City's MTA managers, unlike the people in charge of the DC Metro, has made sure there are no cameras in place recording activity 24/7 on platforms. In my opinion they would not like those cameras because they would also record attacks by criminals on passengers. Without the cameras the MTA can continue to blame the victims of track homicides.

Here's a surveillance photo of the man tumbling onto the tracks. Note that the photo is copyrighted by the Washington Area Metro Transit Authority.

Here's a link where you can watch the surveillance video of the rescue.

When will the MTA catch up with other cities?

When will New York's media even notice how dismally their city's subway compares to other cities in the matter of surveillance?








 

Philadelphia Subway Has What The MTA Does Not

Once again news is made in a subway system equipped with surveillance cameras pointing at platforms.

Not a crime this time but a rescue of a passenger who fell to the tracks.

Have the wonderful people who run the New York system's MTA ever released surveillance tapes of any newsworthy event?

Does anyone holding an important position in any of New York's vaunted media care that his city's transit system continues to lag behind all others?

Are camera's lacking in New York's system because the MTA and the NYPD do not want tapes released of unwitnessed fatal "accidents" that were really homicides?

Philadelphia Subway Crime Video

Not only does the management of the Moscow subway release videos of crimes occurring in their system so do the people in charge of Philadelphia's system.

But New York's MTA is unrelenting in its utter contempt for the safety of passengers.

Cameras would make life difficult for two classes of people that MTA management obviously considers more important than fare-paying passengers: its own lawyers and violence-prone criminals.

The New York system has lots of cameras pointing at turnstiles where petty criminals might cheat the MTA out of petty sums if they avoid paying fares. 

But when it comes to protecting passengers from violent criminals the MTA and the NYPD show by their actions what they consider important ... and what they do not.

  

Subway Serial Killers?

Two women were killed on New York subway trains. Tanya Middleton in 1982 and Lorraine O'Garro in March 2015. Here are some facts about these deaths.

Tanya Middleton

Date: June 12, 1982
Time of Day: 10:15 AM
Train: Northbound IRT Pelham Bay
Traveling in The Bronx
Nearest Station: Hunts Point
Initial Classification by Police: Accident, "Walking Between Cars" (See Below)

Lorraine O'Garro

Date: March 23, 2015
Time of Day: 10:30 AM
Train: Southbound #1
Traveling from The Bronx
Nearest Station: 207th Street
Classification by Police: Accident, "Walking Between Cars"


As noted by a commenter at DNAinfo "The news this morning said she was walking between the cars and fell. I thought the doors between cars were now locked. Even so, I don't know how you can fall between the cars. I've walked through cars many times and a good thing for the world, I'm still around ... "

Having done it dozens of times myself , I agree. There are safety chains that prevent accidental deaths. 


The reclassification of Tanya Middleton's Death as Homicide 

Woman Killed by 1 Train Remembered as Joyful Mother

As reported in DNAinfo:

A preliminary investigation revealed that she might have fallen onto the tracks while walking in between subway cars and losing her footing, according to the NYPD.

I suspect "preliminary investigation" really means "no investigation."

O'Garro Family

Regular riders of the subway know how difficult it would be for a person walking between cars to fall to the tracks accidentally.

Readers of this blog know that killers had to lift the safety chains in order to throw women to their deaths.

I note that there is no mention of the safety chains in this report.

Let's review what could happen if the MTA and the NYPD did not automatically rule out the possibility of homicide.

Woman Fatally Struck by 1 Train, Officials Say

The following is a quote from  http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/

By Aidan Gardiner on March 23, 2015 12:41pm 

@aidangardiner

 

DNAinfo/Michael Ip

 

 

She was killed inside the 207th Street subway station in Inwood, police said.

MANHATTAN — A woman was fatally struck by a southbound 1 train in Inwood Monday morning, officials said.

The woman, whose age was not immediately released, was on the tracks when the train struck her in the 207th Street subway station near 10th Avenue about 10:30 a.m., MTA and NYPD officials said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

NYPD officials said they were still trying to figure out how she came to be on the tracks.

 http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150323/inwood/woman-fatally-struck-by-1-train-officials-say

Here, is my comment to this sad report as it appears on DNAinfo:

          RIP.

I await the MTA's release of the tape from the forward-looking cam installed in all subway train operators' booths.

You know, the ones that record these "walking on the tracks" people, the tapes used by MTA lawyers to prove the "accident" was the fault of the victim. The tapes routinely released to New York media and readily available for public viewing.

Oh wait!

I forgot.

There are no such cameras.

Gee, I wonder why.

 Welcome to all the new visitors to this site!

 © 2015 by James Graham

Subway Shootings: New York and Moscow

A recent fatal shooting at a New York City subway station was videoed and reported by the local CBS television channel.

But as explained in The New York Times, the video broadcast by CBS was not from an MTA surveillance camera.

It was recorded by a passenger on his mobile phone. 

Compare that to a shooting in a Moscow subway station.  

As can be viewed here security cameras—not a passenger's mobile phone—recorded an event very similar to the New York incident, a fight that ended with gunfire. 

Not only does Moscow have what New York does not—security cameras in stations that record crimes—but as reported by the Daily Mail Moscow even has security cameras inside subway cars. 

In one incident those cameras recorded an attack in which the victim was shot. Russian media published videos which clearly show the faces of the attackers. 

These Daily Mail photos are from the video:

So which subway system is run with greater concern for the lives of its passengers? 

To be sure, if a passenger is shot in the New York subway the police will react professionally. But this site is about track homicides, unwitnessed killings that are automatically blamed on the victim by a police force that is committed, when such events occur, not to law enforcement or arresting criminals, but to protecting the MTA.

As for management of the MTA I wonder if they are proud to lag so far behind the Russians in installing security cameras that can be used to record murders, including unwitnessed track murders. Or are they—and their lawyers—glad they can continue to blame victims for their horrific deaths? 

 © 2015 by James Graham

Surveillance Cameras Record Subway Criminal in Flight, But No Thanks to the MTA.

On January 2, 2015 a female subway passenger was attacked on the subway platform in Forest Hills. She was groped, then pushed to the ground. Her assailant then ran upstairs on to Queens Boulevard where he was recorded by surveillance cameras.

Once again, the criminal's attack and flight was not recorded on MTA cameras for there were no cameras where the attack took place. 


© 2015 by James Graham