New York City is having a truly bad week with regards to violent crime. On Monday an NYPD officer was shot and killed during a traffic stop.
Officer Jonathan Diller, a married father of a 1-year-old boy, was shot in the stomach after police tried to remove the suspect, identified by sources as 34-year-old Guy Rivera, from the passenger seat of the car near 19-19 Mott Ave. in Far Rockaway, according to the NYPD and sources.
Diller, who had three years on the force, fell to the ground and screamed that he had been “hit” after the suspect opened fire, according to witness Deon Peters.
Rivera, the shooter, had 21 prior arrests and was last released from prison in 2021. Mayor Eric Adams said of the incident, “I can’t not say it any clearer: It is the good guys against the bad guys and these bad guys are violent.”
The same day, a 54-year-old man was shoved into the path of an oncoming subway train by a 24-year-old with a history of mental illness.
Carlton McPherson, 24, of the Bronx, had a warrant out for his arrest in an open Brooklyn assault case at the time of Monday’s chilling attack at the East 125th Street and Lexington Avenue station — when cops say he pushed a 54-year-old man onto the tracks.
A northbound 4 train rolling into the station around 7 p.m. was unable to stop in time, and fatally struck the man, whose name had not been released pending family notification.
McPherson was arrested for beating a man with a can last Halloween. He was initially released without bail in that case but then a warrant was issued for his arrest about a week later. He has a history of mental health incidents and has been also been arrested for various crimes.
This came even after Gov. Hochul deployed 1,000 members of the National Guard to New York’s subway system to help prevent incidents exactly like this.
But there’s another New York crime trend which is gaining attention today. Multiple women have come forward on social media to say they were punched at random while walking down the street.
Several women have come forward on social media sharing incidents in which they said they were punched by men while they were walking the streets of downtown Manhattan in broad daylight in the last month.
Multiple videos — which were uploaded to TikTok — have picked up traction in the last week, with women online sharing their safety concerns in comments and reply videos. One woman said she was assaulted walking home from class. Another said she was assaulted on her way to work. A third woman said she was attacked walking her dog. At least two of the women described suspects with similar characteristics.
One of the women who was attacked shared this on X:
A lot of these women shared similar descriptions of the man who punched them (and me).
He was a black male around 6ft wearing dreads that stopped right above his shoulders.
I distinctively remember that he was wearing a knit hat and was wearing a denim jacket and jeans.
— Sarah Suzuki Harvard (@sarahamyharvard) March 26, 2024
Here are TikTok videos made by some of the other victims.
@halleykate♬ original sound – halley
@olivia.brand I <3 nyc
@jill_burke be safe out there ladies #nyc #assault ♬ original sound – Jill Burke
@pikapikanab Getting punched in NYC was not on my agenda today. This happened to me at around 1 pm and I had work immediately after. #fyp #fypage ♬ original sound – 🍉Selena Pikanab🍉
@mikaylatoninato @halley ♬ original sound – mikayla
All of these attacks (I think there are a couple more) have taken place in a matter of days. What’s striking to me is how apologetic many of the women are about looking at their phones, as if that meant they were asking to be hit.
Only two of the women give a description but is it possible all of these attacks are the result of one deranged person? Or is this some kind of “game” being spread online. I was leaning toward the former explanation until I heard the account of the woman who said her attacker apologized before hitting her. That made me wonder if this is part of another stupid TikTok trend.
Anyway, crime is supposedly down a bit in New York City compared to last year, but I don’t think people reading the news this week will get that impression.