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?