NYC NOW - March 18, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

A Brooklyn family is reeling after a man stabbed and killed a 19-year-old woman and hurt her twin sister at a bodega two blocks from their home in Park Slope. Meanwhile, following a series of subway shootings this year, ex-NYPD detective Felipe Rodriguez offers safety tips if you find yourself near an active shooter in the subway. Governor Kathy Hochul recently ordered 750 National Guard troops throughout the subway, but that's not the only measure she's taking to improve safety in the network. Hochul is also is sending more mental health support into the subway system to help the unhoused. WNYC's Stephen Nessen accompanied one of the outreach teams.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Monday, March 18th. Here's the midday news for Michael Hill. A Brooklyn family is reeling after a man-staffed and killed a 19-year-old woman and heard her twin sister at a bodega two blocks from their home. Police said the man stabbed Samaya, Spain, in the chest at the corner store at 4th Avenue in St. Mark's Place. at a little after two Sunday morning. The twins' aunt Marquita McMillan says she fears for the safety of her own teenage daughter and others.

I would have never, these girls probably didn't have a fear in their heart that anything was going to happen to them in the neighborhood that they grew up with all these people. That's something could happen like that. Spain's family says she was a student at Hunter College studying cosmetology. No arrest has been reported. 47 hours, some sunshine out there, mostly sunny today in a high of 52. be windy, and then tomorrow, mostly sunny and 49 in the first day of spring. Wednesday, look for some showers at a high temperature of 55.

Stay close. There's more after the break. Here on WNYC, I'm David First. A series of subway shootings this year, including Thursdays at a station in downtown Brooklyn, has some strap hangers wondering what to do if they find themselves in a similar situation. Felipe Rodriguez is a professor at John J. College of Criminal Justice and a former NYPD detective. He says if you're trapped in a subway car with an active shooter, the best you can do is try to cover yourself. You have a book bag with a lot of books, a computer.

You could place that in front of you to try to protect your vital organs. And while it's not guaranteed to always stop a round, at least we could slow it down to minimize the damage in case it does penetrate a person. Rodriguez says station platforms have places to hide behind like garbage cans. The best place actually, you just stand right behind the columns of steel. Those columns of steel there are so thick, they will actually, you know, stop rifle fire. Rodriguez says a train's first car is the safest because the conductor there can quickly alert police and guide riders to a safe exit. Conversely, he says the last car is the most dangerous.

Well, we were, you know, constantly on patrol, we would call the last couple of cars of club cars, because usually those are the ones that bring about the highest percentage of criminal activity, where people feel that there are no consequences to their action. Earlier this month, Governor Hokel deployed state troopers and National Guard soldiers into the subway system in an attempt to calm fears about violent crime. Governor Kathy Hokel recently ordered 750 National Guard members into the subway system to help patrol it.

But that's not the only measure, she says, will improve safety in the transit network that saw another shooting last week. This one on an A-train in downtown downtown downtown. Brooklyn. Hogle is expanding a program that sends mental health workers, along with police officers, to help the unhoused. WNIC Stephen Nesson accompanied one of the outreach teams and has this story. We start at 8 a.m. MTA headquarters, where two clinicians and half a dozen MTA police officers cram into a small conference room. There's Dunkin' Donuts coffee, munchkins, and a bowl of oranges.

They map out the day. We're going to stop from Whitehall. We'll take it down to South Ferry. And then we'll head straight to Shimburs. That's Amid Ademaloo, a 41-year-old clinician. He's a trained nurse wearing a matching olive t-shirt, jacket, and pants with heavy black boots. He works for the city's Department of Homeless Services, and he's a member of the Subway Co-Response Outreach Team, or Scout, for short. What makes this group different from other homeless service groups is Ademaloo-focused.

focuses on the most troubled, unhoused people in the subway system. If a person is obviously bleeding, that is a health hazard on its own. They're putting their life in danger, and it's only a matter of time before things get bad. He has the authority to send someone to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, whether they want to go or not. But instead of just calling an ambulance, he actually goes into the hospital with them. It's a daunting process in a city with an estimated 2,000 individuals. taking shelter in the subway system, according to the last hope count. The program's expansion also comes at a moment when there's been a spike in felony assaults

and three murders in the subway this year. A Demalu slips on a reflective orange vest and fist bumps the other clinician before they go their separate ways. Each one of them is backed up by three MTA police officers. All right. At the Fulton Transit Center, there's a man laying on the ground near the Uptown 4-5 train. You can smell and smell. from 15 feet away.

Ademaloo, wearing a face mask, crouches close to him. After a few words, the man gingerly stands up and hobbles off. Ademaloo discusses his decision to let the man go with one of the police officers.

We'll continue to look at his activities. I don't see no. There's a one medical attention. He's leaving. He's not sleeping. A few minutes later, he sees another man pacing in a corridor. He has a long, disheveled gray beard,

sagging workpants and a white waffle shirt, snot dangles from his nostrils. This encounter goes very differently. It's hard to make out, but he says, I'm taking the J train. Leave me alone, he says. I said don't follow me, he tells Adamalu and the three MTA police standing behind him.

Suddenly, an NYPD officer joins them. Then a commuter starts shouting. Don't touch it. Don't touch it. MTA police, who had just been observing up to this point, start yelling at the man and a bystander nearby. The man continues walking to the J-Train platform, trailed now by nine police officers trying to convince him to leave.

He tells an officer, I don't have time for that. Watching all this unfold is Jeremy Fagelson. He's been working on homeless issues in the city for decades. The MTA hired him two years ago to address the ongoing homeless problem in the system. He says initially this man was not determined to be psychotic, just angry and very stubborn. This guy, you know, with the anger at this level, I think the indications are that we need a further assessment.

I ask, though, I mean, is the anger related to the sheer number of MTA police that surrounded him very quickly? Yeah, we'll never know. But again, you have to be able to. ask, you know, is that person better off if he walks away and spends the day working around the subway system? Is he better off if we spend a little more time with him and try and get him to help? Fagelson leans over and says,

This is a 958. That's the code that means the man is going to a hospital for an involuntary psychiatric assessment. It's allowed under New York State law. Shut up. Do it. That shut up there. Outside the station, three police officers pin him against the wall.

wall. Two officers hold his arms. One holds up his pants, which keep falling down. A Demaloo stands off to the side taking notes on a clipboard. When he said, I just want to get on the J-Train, why don't you just let him get on the J-Train? That's not mean. He made the call to stay there. He was acting erratic. All right, so he made the call. I didn't make that call. They're giving multiple opportunity to leave the train or leave the station. But he kept walking toward the J-train, right? He said, I want to get on the J-train. me. It's, you know, my job here is to observe the situation and assess the situation and make determination appropriately. Minutes tick by as everyone waits for an ambulance.

Suddenly, an officer takes out a mesh bag and pulls it over the man's head. Just to give you some insight on what this is right here, it's called the spit hood. That's Steve Simmons, a sergeant with the MTA police. He has a ton of mucus coming down, it's dripping into his mouth, and as he's talking, it's going to some of the officers faces. So that's why we did that right there. We just made sure the officers are safe, but they're not getting...

Nearly 30 minutes later, EMTs arrive. They restrain him in a wheelchair with orange straps and cart him down the street. The ambulance will take him to Bellevue. A Demlu rides with him, and will spend the rest of the day with this man. It's not even noon yet. This program launched in the fall,

and since then, the MTA reports 45 people have voluntarily moved into a shelter, and 15 people have been involuntarily taken to the hospital for assessment. Most of them ended up being admitted. Will Watts is Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy at Coalition for the Homeless. If there were more, no barrier access to treatment, to the appropriate facilities or individuals would be able to feel safe and in stable, then individuals will choose those options. But Governor Kathy Hokel says the outreach teams are making a difference. She's committed $20 million to increase the number of scout teams from two to ten, and the plan is for the program

to expand beyond Manhattan to other boroughs. Hokel says they'll be up and running by next year. As for the man who has taken away in the ambulance, Jeremy Fagelson at the MTA, who focuses on this, says he's just one of thousands of people sheltering the subway system who needs help. tomorrow we'll see another one, and the day after that we'll see another one, and we'll keep going until hopefully everyone who needs care gets it. Do you believe that's possible? I do. I think with enough resources and enough commitment, it can't happen. That's the goal. He'll be back at it tomorrow.

Stephen Nesson, WNYC News. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep hours. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.