A 23-year-old woman in New York City said she did not want to cooperate with prosecutors after a man attacked her on the subway because she did not want to “put another black man in jail.” The same suspect is now accused of pushing a 76-year-old man to his death at a Chelsea station.
<a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/08/us-news/stranger-assaulted-by-maniac-weeks-before-he-pushed-retired-nyc-teacher-to-death-recounts-frightening-attack/">The New York Post</a> interviewed the unidentified woman, who recounted a harrowing experience with a friend on a Manhattan subway. On April 2, the suspect, Rhamell Burke, a former Broadway dancer who fell off during the pandemic, approached the woman and her friend and tried to strike up a conversation. The two shut him down and tried to move to another subway car, according to The Post.
The alleged attacker didn&#8217;t take no for an answer. Burke, according to the woman, yanked the back of her head and kicked her friend. 
“He comes up, and he kicks my friend in the back, and basically pushes him through the transition of the cars,” the woman said in an interview with The Post.
“My friend freaks out, runs away, and then he grabs me by the head and pushes my head down, trying to, like, maybe throw me on the ground or something. But I didn’t, I resisted as much as I could. I didn’t fall, and then I immediately opened up the car and then ran towards my friend,&#8221; she said to The Post. 
The woman and her friend got off the train at the West 4th Street–Washington Square station in Greenwich Village, but Burke followed them, she said.
“We started running a little bit, but then thank God the cops were right there because, I mean, we kept thinking about, imagine that there were no cops, we would have had to literally run for our lives. They immediately arrested him. It was shut down really fast by the cops, and we respected that,&#8221; the woman said. 
Cooperation with law enforcement appeared to stop there. The alleged female victim declined to cooperate with prosecutors, and the same suspect is now accused of fatally shoving 76-year-old Ross Falzone down a flight of stairs at Manhattan’s 18th Street subway station.
Falzone, a retired high school teacher who lived alone, landed on his head at the bottom of the stairs and sustained a traumatic brain injury, a fractured spine, and a fractured rib, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/nyregion/mamdani-bellevue-subway-attack-investigation.html">according to the New York Times.</a> He later died from his injuries. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
NEW: Repeat offender and Broadway dancer shoves a 76-year-old retired teacher down New York City subway stairs, killing him.
32-year-old Rhamell Burke was seen grinning in court after allegedly carrying out the horrific murder.
The victim, Ross Falzone, was a social worker for… <a href="https://t.co/cBlbscyOOW">pic.twitter.com/cBlbscyOOW</a>
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/2053867272704561250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
Three months before the deadly attack, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/nyregion/mamdani-bellevue-subway-attack-investigation.html">Burke had been arrested four times</a>, including for assault on a police officer.
New York Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was &#8220;horrified&#8221; by the killing and called for an investigation into whether the tragedy could have been prevented.
“New Yorkers deserve answers,&#8221; Mamdani said in a statement. &#8220;That is why I’ve directed NYC Health + Hospitals to conduct both an immediate investigation on what steps should have been taken to prevent this tragedy and a comprehensive review of their psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols.”  
Police had previously taken Burke to a hospital after he was observed “acting erratically.” About an hour later, he was released and allegedly carried out the deadly attack later that night, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/08/us-news/stranger-assaulted-by-maniac-weeks-before-he-pushed-retired-nyc-teacher-to-death-recounts-frightening-attack/">according to the New York Post.</a>
“I regret it 100%, and I actually feel really bad that a man lost his life,” the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/08/us-news/stranger-assaulted-by-maniac-weeks-before-he-pushed-retired-nyc-teacher-to-death-recounts-frightening-attack/">woman said of her decision not to cooperate with prosectors.</a> “Maybe a part of me was just like, I don’t want to put another black man in jail, but, you know, at some point, if you are a criminal, you’re a criminal, and he was scary, he was a scary guy.”

NYC Subway

Woman Refused To Rat On Murder Suspect Because She Didn’t ‘Want To Put Another Black Man In Jail’

Crime

New York City

News

Subway

San Francisco drastically reduced issues they were having on public transit by making it almost impossible to enter without paying, according to a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/fare-gate-society-bart/686868/">report</a> from The Atlantic.
The outlet noted that last August, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) installed six-foot-tall saloon-style doors made of plexiglass with metal frames that were much harder to get through compared to regular turnstiles that could easily be jumped. This change is expected to increase revenue by $10 million per year as riders are forced to actually pay to ride. 
But beyond generating more income, it’s also led to a decrease in issues that used to plague the subway. Overall crime on BART plunged 41% in 2025 compared to the previous year, with violent crime down 31% and property crime down 43%.
“Safety is about more than enforcement. It’s about presence, partnership, and creating an environment where all riders feel comfortable using BART,” said BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin of the massive change. 
“BART PD is committed to deterring criminal activity, responding quickly when help is needed, and ensuring riders feel safe throughout their journeys. These numbers demonstrate the impact of officers who are engaged and focused on building trust with the communities BART serves.”
BART PD also doubled the number of officers in the system and made sure that they were frequently riding the trains. 
This wasn’t the first time BART tried to curtail fare jumpers, but it was a different world in 2019 when they introduced “inverted guillotine” gates, which at the time were <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260222141612mp_/https://www.kqed.org/arts/13861966/barts-fare-evasion-crackdown-exposes-the-deadly-elegance-of-hostile-design" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dubbed</a> “anti-poor, anti-homeless, and ableist” by activists.
There was also a push against &#8220;fare checks&#8221; — essentially people dispatched to verify tickets — which were dubbed ineffective by critics, said to &#8220;disproportionately affect people of color and the homeless,&#8221; and found to recover only &#8220;minimal revenue.&#8221;
These new jump-proof gates make fare checks unnecessary, and complaints of racist enforcement policies are a non-issue since those people haven’t gained access in the first place. 
“We had pressure on us that interaction between police and the public, because of fare evasion, could lead to racial profiling,” BART communications officer Alicia Trost told The Atlantic. “Once the fare gates were in place, we’re limiting those interactions. It’s not discretionary; there’s less enforcement.”
These efforts stand in sharp contrast to efforts being made by New York’s new Muslim socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, whose stated goal is to make city buses <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/its-only-been-a-month-and-zohran-mamdani-is-already-a-disaster">free for everyone</a>.

BART entry

One Hardline Change And Crime Starts Falling Almost Overnight

California

San Francisco

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/hosts/michael-knowles?elementPosition=4&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Hosts&amp;rowType=Hosts+Portrait+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
A Honduran national, deported four times from the United States, reportedly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiall5yi0wM">pushed</a> an elderly Air Force veteran onto the tracks of the New York City subway. You can <a href="https://www.wkrn.com/news/national/honduran-man-accused-of-shoving-2-onto-nyc-subway-tracks-was-deported-4-times-dhs/">read about it</a> in the local news, however, you&#8217;re not going to see a lot about it in the national news.
This guy was arrested last Tuesday for pushing two people: a 30-year-old man and an 83-year-old man onto the tracks. This was unprovoked. This guy is a serial criminal, a four-time deportee. According to the deputy assistant secretary of <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/03/12/four-time-deported-criminal-illegal-alien-15-prior-charges-arrested-after-shoving">DHS</a>, he should never have been able to walk our streets and harm innocent Americans.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="NYPD searching for suspect who pushed 2 men onto subway tracks" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eiall5yi0wM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
He’s probably going to get off the hook. Soon, he&#8217;ll be receiving various taxpayer subsidies and eating a dollar-a-slice pizza. He’s also probably living it up at the Roosevelt Hotel, where illegal aliens have been able to get better accommodations than most actual taxpaying New Yorkers for years now.
The reason this story matters is not that it&#8217;s shocking or surprising. It&#8217;s not “man bites dog.” This has been happening for a long time.
This is directly attributable to mayors and governors like Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul. Mamdani and Hochul and all the Democrat mayors and governors of sanctuary cities and states are aiding and abetting these crimes. They are actively encouraging these crimes because sanctuary cities and states refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, and they refuse to turn these criminals over to ICE.
According to the current policy in New York City, this guy — if he is sent to prison — will be allowed to get out and run free in the city afterward. When ICE shows up and says we want to pick this guy up and deport him for the fifth time, New York will say, No. We will not hand him over to you. We will protect the guy who threw the 83-year-old Air Force veteran onto the subway tracks, the guy with a rap sheet a mile long who has broken our laws countless times.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/hosts/michael-knowles?elementPosition=4&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Hosts&amp;rowType=Hosts+Portrait+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-1054531 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
At this point, the only way to stop him from doing it again is probably capital punishment. Yes, right now he wouldn&#8217;t get back into the country because President Trump closed the border. But the next time you get a Democrat president, he or she will once again make the border wide open. And this guy will walk back in.
These Democrat mayors and governors — Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul, and the rest of them — are actively working with this guy. They have blood on their hands. Every woman these people light on fire in a subway car in New York, every throat these people slash, every crime these people commit is on their hands.
And that&#8217;s not hyperbole. They are very practically, very literally protecting these people from federal immigration enforcement. They are keeping them in the country, holding them tight when federal immigration enforcement tries to enforce the law.
Furthermore, we have to recognize something about illegal immigration: every single crime that illegal immigrants commit here is needless, gratuitous, and preventable. Every single one.
The libs like to say, Actually illegal aliens commit much less crime than the native-born population.
First of all, that isn’t true. Then they try to say illegal aliens commit less violent crime than the native-born population. You can make some arguments for that, but they’re pretty weak arguments — and it misses the point.
We have to deal with the crime that native-born Americans commit. That’s baked in. We don’t have an option. We can’t strip them of citizenship. But every single illegal immigrant who commits a crime here — whether it’s rape and murder or jaywalking and tax evasion — every single one of those crimes is preventable.
And therefore the people who fight tooth and nail to keep illegal immigrants in this country — even the convicted criminals, felons, and murderers — those people have blood on their hands.
That is why immigration is not an abstract policy debate. It is a question of responsibility.
And the American people should hold every single Democrat accountable for it.

Crowd of people in a NYC subway station waiting for the train

Air Force Vet, 83, Shoved Onto Subway Tracks — The Dem Policy Now Under Scrutiny

Democrats

illegal immigrants

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Michael Knowles

Opinion

Sanctuary Cities

U.S. Air Force

Veterans

A man with a years-long criminal record allegedly pushed one woman onto the subway tracks in New York City before punching another woman in the face on Saturday.
Curtis Signal, 25, was arrested at a nearby homeless shelter and charged with assault, harassment, and reckless endangerment, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/02/14/us-news/women-pushed-onto-nyc-subway-tracks-punched-in-face/">reported</a>.
The first woman, 51, suffered broken ribs after being pushed. The second woman, 43, suffered a busted lip. The attack took place on the R subway line in Brooklyn.
Signal is on probation until June 2027, the Post reported. In 2023, he allegedly punched a 67-year-old woman in the face, and punched a police officer one week later. Before that, he allegedly attacked a 31-year-old woman at a doctor’s office, and he was charged with assault after hitting his 13-year-old sister.
Al Rivera, who heard about the subway attack from a friend of one of the victims, told the Post that Signal would probably be released.
“He did wrong to those people and he is not going to stop until someone sends him to the cemetery,” Rivera said. “He’s not going to stay in jail. It’s a rotating door.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A maniac pushed a woman onto the subway tracks and punched another lady in the face in Brooklyn Saturday — and was later arrested at a nearby shelter, police and sources said. <a href="https://t.co/RtLPRIYOK2">pic.twitter.com/RtLPRIYOK2</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/2022789337201475703?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/01/mayor-zohran-mamdani-inaugural-address">promise</a> to “deliver an agenda of safety, affordability, and abundance,” crime on New York City&#8217;s transit system has increased 17% since last year, the Post reported.
That number included a 9% increase in assaults, with 71 this year compared to 65 last year, and robberies have seen a 58% increase. A man was killed at a Bronx subway station on Tuesday, the first subway murder of the year.
One woman, Yolene Martinez, told the Post that these attacks make her afraid to take the train into Manhattan for work.
“Every time I hear something like this, I get more fearful,” Martinez said. “It’s happening too often — someone gets pushed on the tracks, someone gets slashed, someone gets shot.”
Mamdani recently received criticism for saying that a mentally ill man who attacked police officers with a knife should receive mental health treatment instead of being prosecuted. Police had shot the alleged attacker after he charged them with a large kitchen knife, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/nyc-mayor-mamdani-under-fire-defending-knife-wielding-suspect-over-police-officers">reported</a>.
In addition to rising crime, Mamdani has been criticized for a rising homeless death toll, as severe winter weather saw nineteen people dead as of Thursday, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-yorks-winter-death-toll-rises-to-19-curtis-sliwa-faults-sanctuary-city-policies?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Curtis+Sliwa+Has+Thoughts+On+How+Mamdani+Is+Handling+His+First+Emergency">reported</a>.
Curtis Sliwa, former New York City mayoral candidate and long-time New Yorker, said part of the problem lies in the city’s sanctuary status — diverting resources to illegal aliens instead of the homeless — but he added that Mamdani is still partially to blame.
“I don’t see any of the homeless outreach workers that the mayor keeps talking about,” he said.

WARMTH OF COLLECTIVISM: Repeat Offender Pushes Woman Onto NYC Subway Tracks

U.S.

Zohran Mamdani

Chicago typical silver colored commuter train moving on elevated tracks to railroad station in between urban city buildings of Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Career Criminal Freed By Radical Pro-Crime Judge Sets Christian Woman On Fire On Subway

Chicago

Criminal Justice

Illinois

Murder

Train

Violent Crime

At least two people are dead after heavy rains triggered widespread flooding in the New York City area and beyond, officials confirmed on Tuesday, after more than two inches of rain fell in one hour on Monday night, the second-wettest hour ever recorded in the city.
In Plainfield, New Jersey, about 30 miles away from New York City, flooding swept away a vehicle, killing two people inside.
Subway service was delayed on multiple lines Monday night at the height of the storm, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/nyc-subway-station-flooding-service-alerts/">reported</a>. The downpour flooded multiple stations in Manhattan.
&#8220;The New York City sewer system, the storm water system, accommodates about an inch and a half to an inch and three quarters an hour,&#8221; Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber told CBS News. &#8220;Last night, in that one hour, we had well over 2 inches of rain. So what happens is the system backs up into the subway.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Intense rainfall over New York caused severe flooding in the city, sending water gushing into a subway train platform as authorities issued several flash flood warnings across the New York City metropolitan area <a href="https://t.co/so3YNCJWgg">pic.twitter.com/so3YNCJWgg</a>
— Reuters (@Reuters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1945026799135576435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The flooding left some riders stranded, while others navigated pools of water on still-functioning platforms. Subway lines restored service Monday night with delays.
New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency as multiple counties were under flash flood warnings. He attributed the storm damage to climate change, saying, &#8220;We New Jersey, we America, we the globe, are getting dragged by climate,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07/15/nyregion/new-york-jersey-floods">reported</a>.
Rescue crews pulled drivers from stalled cars while roads shut down. Authorities launched boats into flooded streets after a river overflowed, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-jersey-flash-flooding-rescues/">according</a> to CBS News.
Rafts, a giant truck, and a frontloader rescued people.
Conditions are expected to clear on Tuesday as the storm shifts southward.
The flooding comes after flash floods hit Texas, killing more than 130 people, ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/texas-flooding-live-updates/?id=123729682">reported</a>. More than 100 people remain missing.

Phil Murphy declares state of emergency amid flooding, thunderstorms in New Jersey

WATCH: Torrential Rains Flood NYC Subways, 2 Dead in New Jersey

flooding

Floods

New Jersey

New York

Severe Weather

The following is an excerpt from the new book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Children-Left-Behind-Rationalizes-Separation/dp/B0DSJZWMDL/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mHwt-SB0BE6Z4SuvSL8BpJGq0o4KZKefFX7qCk2QDecQdDECQ5sacSwFhvoqNh0G.3kO-vQO6MHEer2Op5JTvskog7q0WE0RCOw0_toT-nOM&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;qid=1738089124&amp;refinements=p_27%3AAdam+Coleman&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1">The Children We Left Behind: How Western Culture Rationalizes Family Separation &amp; Ignores The Pain Of Child Neglect</a>,” by Adam B. Coleman (Wrong Speak Publishing, April 1, 2025).
* * *
“I don’t care if I die. I don’t care if I go to jail”. 
These were some of the final words spoken by Jordan Neely, a homeless thirty-year-old man who died inside a subway after threatening frightened riders and being subdued in a headlock by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-daniel-penny-found-not-guilty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Penny</a> on May 1, 2023.
Neely had a long 42-arrest history of criminal activity, involving four violent offenses spanning from 2013 to 2021, only to eventually die on the floor of an F train subway car.
While most of the public has focused on his threats before being taken down by Daniel Penny or the racial differences between Neely and Penny, I want to focus on Neely’s origin story.
My interest in sharing Neely’s story is twofold. Objectively, Neely was a troubled man who had a history of terrorizing riders and was riddled with mental health problems. But he wasn’t born that way. No child dreams of being a homeless person on the street. How did Jordan Neely go from an innocent child to dying on the subway? As I hope to illuminate for readers, it all stems from his abusive childhood.
The second reason why I want to share Jordan Neely’s story is more personal. In Jordan, I see something of myself: a child who was abandoned by his father. After my father left me, my mom, and my sister, my entire life was uprooted. By the age of six, I had lived in three states and various towns, residing with multiple family members and spending months in and out of homelessness. My father’s absence and my mother being left to raise me and my sister on her own led me to suffer from depression, low self-esteem, and suicidal ideation. At age eight, I was admitted to a mental hospital.
<div id="attachment_900349" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Children-Left-Behind-Rationalizes-Separation/dp/B0DSJZWMDL/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mHwt-SB0BE6Z4SuvSL8BpJGq0o4KZKefFX7qCk2QDecQdDECQ5sacSwFhvoqNh0G.3kO-vQO6MHEer2Op5JTvskog7q0WE0RCOw0_toT-nOM&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;qid=1738089124&amp;refinements=p_27%3AAdam+Coleman&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900349" class="size-large wp-image-900349" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_-384x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Wrong Speak Publishing" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_.jpg 907w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Credit: Wrong Speak Publishing</div>
Would Jordan’s life have taken a different turn if he had a loving father in his life? Why could he not have been one of the lucky ones, like me, who by the grace of God overcame a traumatic childhood?
Neely grew up in an abusive household with his mother and stepfather. This violence from his stepfather escalated to the point of murdering Jordan Neely’s mother, Christine Neely, by strangulation, subsequently stuffing her body in a suitcase, and dumping her body on the Henry Hudson Highway in Bronx, NY, when Jordan Neely was 14 years old.
In <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/05/03/subway-chokehold-victim-jordan-neely-spiraled-after-moms-death-aunt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an interview</a> with The New York Post, Carolyn Neely, Jordan’s Aunt, stated that his mother&#8217;s murder was the pivotal starting point of his mental downfall.
“My sister Christie was murdered in ‘07, and after that, he has never been the same. It had a big impact on him. He developed depression, and it grew and became more serious. He was schizophrenic, PTSD.”
After his mother&#8217;s killing, Jordan bounced around from foster home to foster home for four years, being left behind in New York City’s dysfunctional foster care system.
After Jordan Neely’s death, New York’s PIX 11 News <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iX7lkOZA_g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewed</a> Neely’s foster brother, Larry Smith. Larry Smith viewed Jordan Neely as his best friend, big brother, and mentor.
Eventually, both Smith and Neely aged out of the foster care system, leaving them homeless on the streets of New York City. In the early years of their brotherly relationship, Neely would perform Michael Jackson dance routines on subway cars for money to feed themselves.
“He would do the whole Billy Jean [dance routine], and I would sit there and have the one hat that he gave me for Michael Jackson and collect a couple of dollars. He used that because foster parents were abusing us.”
It is Smith&#8217;s final statement that encapsulates the deep desire of every child: “Jordan never wanted money … Jordan wanted a home.”
Every child wants a home, and not just in a physical sense. It’s not enough for a child to have a place of shelter; they also need a place where they know they belong and are safe.
In various articles I’ve read about Jordan Neely in his teenage years, he was described as a quiet child who enjoyed Japanese anime. However, this quiet child was hardened like the concrete streets he’d occasionally sleep on.
There are only so many chances you’ll give the world to hurt you before you acknowledge your hopelessness by outwardly exclaiming, “I don’t care if I die. I don’t care if I go to jail.”
He gave his stepfather a chance, who ultimately murdered his mother. He gave the foster care system a chance, and they abused and abandoned him. If every adult you encounter lets you down, you’d probably go insane too and grow a deep hatred for mankind, including hatred for yourself.
Jordan Neely’s situation isn’t abnormal, and that’s the problem.
The only reason we even know his name is because of a fluke circumstance of being filmed by a journalist. But if he had overdosed alone on a street corner, he would be just another statistic.
Thousands upon thousands of Jordan Neelys all over America are on the street. They are adults now, but they were once children left behind by nearly every adult they encountered.
I once felt all the rage that Jordan felt. I sometimes still do. My father chose himself over me, my sister, and my mother and neglected me until the day he died. Thanks be to God, I made it, but my successes should never be a reason for parents to risk playing Russian Roulette with their children’s lives.
I am also a father now. And as a father, my job has been to raise my child to become greater than myself and to be a healthy and functional member of society. Over the years, I became incredibly conscious of how my actions and lack of actions could turn my son into the man you’d never want to be alone with on the streets at night.
Raising children isn’t just about feeding and housing them. How we treat them and what we teach them directly affects their likelihood of success in the world.
If you fail your children, don’t be surprised when they fail in our society.
* * *
Adam B. Coleman is the author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Children-Left-Behind-Rationalizes-Separation/dp/B0DSJZWMDL/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mHwt-SB0BE6Z4SuvSL8BpJGq0o4KZKefFX7qCk2QDecQdDECQ5sacSwFhvoqNh0G.3kO-vQO6MHEer2Op5JTvskog7q0WE0RCOw0_toT-nOM&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;qid=1738089124&amp;refinements=p_27%3AAdam+Coleman&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1">The Children We Left Behind</a>” and founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. Follow him on X: @wrong_speak
This excerpt is published by permission from Wrong Speak Publishing.
The views expressed in this book excerpt are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-JUSTICE-TRANSPORT-FUNERAL-NEELY

Let Jordan Neely’s Story Be A Warning To Parents: We Must Always Put Our Children First

Let Jordan Neely’s Story Be a Warning to Parents: We Must Always Put Our Children First

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It’s great to be back after a long Christmas break. Much has happened in the world since my last post. Today, however, I’d like to begin with a story that’s unfolding in New York. 
There’s one thing we know: Government officials, whether they&#8217;re elected politicians in this country or despots in the third world, do not like being reminded of their failures. This is why the greatest crime in any dictatorship is noticing. You aren’t supposed to notice things that are embarrassing to the ruling regime. It’s also why comedy and satire are banned in places like North Korea, just like they&#8217;re banned on late-night talk shows in this country. Petty, corrupt and ineffective people can&#8217;t stand it when their incompetence is exposed. They&#8217;re willing to take extreme measures to prevent that from happening. Right now, in the city of New York, we&#8217;re getting a very clear sense of what those &#8220;extreme measures&#8221; look like, in practice.
If you&#8217;ve seen the news lately, you know that the subway system is one of the most obvious and unavoidable signs of New York&#8217;s decline. It&#8217;s a monument to the many failures of the city government. As of late last year, ridership on New York&#8217;s subway system is <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-subway-ridership-hits-new-milestone-but-still-far-short-of-pre-pandemic-levels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">down</a> more than 25% from pre-pandemic levels. That means that, every day, there are at least a million fewer people riding the subway in New York, as compared to five years ago.
It&#8217;s not exactly a great mystery as to why people are avoiding it. There&#8217;s a constant stream of violent attacks on the trains and the platforms — from people being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/assailant-charged-after-allegedly-shoving-man-directly-iin-path-of-oncoming-ny-subway-train" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed in front of the trains</a> to a woman getting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nypd-identifies-woman-burned-to-death-on-subway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">burned alive</a>. Yes, if you didn’t hear about that, a woman was burned alive, on a train, in New York, in front of a crowd of people. This is what’s happening now in the third world country known as New York City. And that&#8217;s just within the last few weeks. These attacks are effectively endorsed and enabled by New York&#8217;s government, which has made the political decision not to incarcerate most criminals.
That explains why a man named Jamar Banks was able to use the subway the other day. The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/05/us-news/madman-accused-of-two-nyc-train-stabbings-is-busted-carrying-large-knife-sources/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> that, &#8220;A subway maniac with 87 prior arrests was just busted for two transit stabbings — carrying the large knife he allegedly used in the violence &#8230; Banks&#8217; rap sheet includes arrests for alleged attempted murder, weapons possession, assault, criminal trespassing, turnstile jumping and petty larceny.&#8221;
If politicians in New York didn&#8217;t want to destroy the city, they&#8217;d immediately throw every criminal like Jamar Banks in prison. They&#8217;d start enforcing the law. It’s actually not hard to prevent people from getting randomly stabbed, torched, or thrown in front of trains. This is a very easy issue to address. The city could effectively end all of this madness overnight, in one fell swoop, if they wanted to. All you have to do is take all the people who are already known violent criminals and put them in prison. Then you have to ban homeless people from setting up camp in the tunnels or on the trains, and arrest anyone who causes a disturbance. This could all be done in one day.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1508-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
But none of that is happening. Instead, rather than admit they&#8217;ve failed their constituents, politicians in New York have just decided to compel citizens to use the subway. They&#8217;ve opted to make it financially untenable for most New Yorkers to avoid public transit. That&#8217;s their solution to the fact that no one in the city wants to ride the subway anymore. They&#8217;re going to force them to do it.
I&#8217;m talking about so-called &#8220;congestion pricing.&#8221; After several years of debate, this &#8220;congestion pricing&#8221; has just taken effect in Manhattan. In essence, this is a tax on anyone who wants to drive a vehicle into the heart of New York during work hours — as if it wasn&#8217;t already expensive enough to live in that diseased, rat-infested, crime-riddled, reeking, filthy, godforsaken hellhole of a city. This new tax is a very clear effort to force New Yorkers to use the subway system, which has become an international embarrassment. People don’t want to use it because they don’t want to be assaulted by schizophrenic vagrants. So the solution isn’t to get rid of the schizophrenic vagrants. Instead it’s to simply force everyone to use it, basically offering law abiding citizens up as sacrifices to the dregs of the community.
Specifically, this new tax covers the vast majority of vehicles entering Manhattan between 60th Street and the Battery, which includes Times Square, Hell&#8217;s Kitchen, the theater district, and other high-traffic areas. From 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m on weekends — which is obviously a huge block of time — the so-called &#8220;peak period toll rate&#8221; is in effect. For all &#8220;passenger and small commercial vehicles,&#8221; that toll rate is $9.00 during the peak period.
To be clear about the political dynamics here, the majority of New Yorkers oppose congestion pricing, as far as I can tell. A Sienna College <a href="https://abc7ny.com/nyc-congestion-pricing-nearly-two-thirds-of-new-yorkers-oppose-plan-siena-college-poll-finds/14721916/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> from last summer found that nearly two-thirds of people living in the city didn&#8217;t want a $15.00 &#8220;congestion toll.&#8221;
In response to the outcry, the governor of New York briefly suspended the plan. Then she said she&#8217;d lower the toll a few dollars, claiming it would save New Yorkers some money. To reiterate, she claimed she was saving New Yorkers money by taking less of their money than she was originally going to take. This was a prime example of political &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUMgX7-yZZs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">girl math</a>,&#8221; as I outlined at the time. And now it&#8217;s taken effect.
Naturally, some Left-wing New Yorkers rallied in response to their government gouging them even more. But instead of rallying against it, they actually rallied to thank their overlords for the privilege of being bilked by them. Some of these scenes are so absurd that they don&#8217;t even seem like they can be real. 
Here for example is a crowd cheering as the signage for the congestion pricing is unveiled:
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&quot;3, 2, 1… Happy congestion pricing!&quot; &#8211; New Yorkers *applaud* as the MTA unveils new regulatory tolls on them <a href="https://t.co/o55GtYlw92">pic.twitter.com/o55GtYlw92</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1875782069361766504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Yes, you just heard someone shouting, &#8220;Happy congestion pricing.&#8221; They are celebrating the implementation of an unprecedented tax, as if it&#8217;s a national holiday.
 This would seem to be boot-licking taken to an unparalleled extreme, and it is. But we should also understand that really they&#8217;re celebrating the fact that, because of this tax, wealthy New Yorkers will have to contend with fewer working class people on the roads in Manhattan. The same people who celebrated the assassination of the health care CEO as some kind of twisted &#8220;victory for the little guy&#8221; are very, very happy about using a tax to keep poor people away from them.
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That&#8217;s a pretty big clue that none of these people actually care about &#8220;the little guy.&#8221; If you ask them, of course, they&#8217;ll pretend otherwise. In particular, they&#8217;ll say that congestion pricing is necessary because it will help pay for improvements to the subway system. 
For example, when the governor briefly halted the plan for congestion pricing last summer, this was the response:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Pro-congestion pricing rally held in Manhattan" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y-nnHGHfXi4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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If you want to explain to someone how cities like New York are collapsing, just show them that clip. According to the residents of New York, it&#8217;s a &#8220;great betrayal&#8221; that the government isn&#8217;t taxing them enough. That is how these people think.
To be fair, the first guy was arguably a little less pathetic. He was talking about all of the alleged benefits that will result from congestion pricing. He&#8217;s saying they&#8217;ll be able to improve the subway system to make it more &#8220;accessible,&#8221; which is a talking point a lot of these protesters used. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Parents with strollers rally in favor of congestion pricing in NYC" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qTGJf7Y3NeI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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One of the many false assumptions these people are making is that more money will improve the subway system. But that&#8217;s not true. And we know that because the New York subway system is a comically obvious example of waste and mismanagement in government.
For example, the Second Avenue subway that was recently constructed in Manhattan somehow cost more money than any other similar subway system on the planet — by a lot. As <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-23/in-nyc-subway-a-case-study-in-runaway-transit-construction-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg reports</a>: &#8220;At $2.5 billion per mile, construction costs for the 1.8-mile Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway were 8 to 12 times more expensive than similar subway projects in Italy, Istanbul, Sweden, Paris, Berlin and Spain.&#8221;
So that&#8217;s one potential way to raise revenue, right off the bat. They could stop lighting money on fire. Secondly, if you&#8217;re worried about congestion in Manhattan, you could try a lot of things besides charging people to drive their cars. You could, for example, try opening more lanes, instead of closing them for cyclists and construction. Anyone who&#8217;s ever driven through Manhattan could tell you that. Here&#8217;s one example:
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Couldn’t have said it better myself.
The city caused this “congestion”. And now anti-car activists are celebrating by taunting drivers at toll gantries.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FuckCongestionPricing?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FuckCongestionPricing</a> <a href="https://t.co/nMIYOiWQLY">pic.twitter.com/nMIYOiWQLY</a>
&mdash; The Fight against Anti-Car (@NoBikeLanes) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoBikeLanes/status/1875717693355298824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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This is something no one ever mentions as a possible solution. Get rid of the stupid bike lanes. You’ll find this same thing in cities all over the country. You have to sit in traffic because the city has blocked off entire lanes so that people can ride their bicycles in the street. As I’ve said many times, they might as well block off lanes so that you can use your ab roller or bench press in the middle of the street. If you want to exercise — that’s great, I support it. But you shouldn’t be doing it in the road when everyone is trying to commute to work.
One of the arguments you&#8217;ll hear from these activists is that, somehow, this new tax will reduce carbon emissions and change the weather and save the planet. This is science, you see. Step 1: you pay a toll. Step 3: hurricanes stop happening. The problem is that Step 2 is a bit foggy. And anyway, even if you assume that reducing carbon emissions by a tiny amount will change the weather for the better, it’s a moot point, because this won’t actually reduce carbon emissions. Instead, traffic is going to move elsewhere. People living in New Jersey understand that pretty well, which is why they&#8217;re suing to stop this tax.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
But regardless, even if you don&#8217;t buy any of the counter-arguments — even if you think that New York&#8217;s government urgently needs more money to improve the subway — it&#8217;s still not clear why &#8220;congestion pricing&#8221; is the best way to raise that revenue. Why not raise taxes on those evil corporations that the Left claims to hate so much? Why are they raising taxes on regular citizens instead?
It only makes sense when you realize, again, that the objective is to force more people into public transit, and get them off the roads.
Admittedly, this whole fiasco may seem irrelevant to anyone who has the good sense to not live in New York. But this sort of madness can be found, in varying degrees, wherever Democrats have power. The idea that Trump’s re-election would be some kind of wake up call for Democrats is a fantasy. They can’t be woken up because they aren’t asleep or in some sort of trance. They’re doing exactly what they want, and their policies are having precisely the effect they intend. 
Here for example is an image from the New York subway system:
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🚨 NYC subway riders are all terrified of being shoved in front of a train. <a href="https://t.co/HCXmcRJ69S">pic.twitter.com/HCXmcRJ69S</a>
&mdash; Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1876039855458979983?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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You&#8217;ll notice that everyone is standing against the wall, because they don&#8217;t want to get pushed on the tracks by some psycho. It&#8217;s straight-up dystopian and you have to wonder how long people will put up with it.
If there’s any waking up that can happen and must happen, it’s among the average citizens in places like New York. If they ever come to their senses and realize that the people they put in power are actively and intentionally making their lives worse in just about every measurable way, then maybe things will start to change for the better.
Unfortunately, for everyone living in New York, based on the celebrations we&#8217;re seeing in support of &#8220;congestion pricing&#8221; — which is really a tax on using your own property and going about your daily life — it doesn&#8217;t look like that will happen any time soon.

NY Congestion Pricing Plan’s Fate Unclear After Court Ruling

2025 Just Started And Things Are Already Getting Crazy

Automobiles

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Kathy Hochul

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In another horrifying attack in the New York City subway system, a 23-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly shoving a commuter onto the tracks just as a train arrived at the 18th Street subway station in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan.
Kamel Hawkins, 23, was taken into custody Tuesday after allegedly pushing the 45-year-old man at roughly 1:30 p.m. on the southbound No. 1 train platform, the NYPD reported.
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JUST IN: 23-year-old Kamel Hawkins charged with attempted murder after pushing a random man in front of a moving train in Manhattan.
The incident happened at the 18th Street station this afternoon. 
Police say the 45-year-old victim is expected to survive and only suffered a… <a href="https://t.co/sDMYidQXwB">pic.twitter.com/sDMYidQXwB</a>
&mdash; Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1874280225845981277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Kamel Hawkins, 23, was arrested yesterday on charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault, for allegedly shoving a 45-year-old white man in front of a moving train at the 18th Street station in Chelsea at around 1:30 p.m. yesterday.
Note that there is no… <a href="https://t.co/1s68ed5fqh">pic.twitter.com/1s68ed5fqh</a>
&mdash; Crime In NYC (@CrimeInNYC) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrimeInNYC/status/1874401174109007999?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Violet Paley, aboard the 1 train when it stopped, told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/01/us/man-charged-attempted-murder-new-york-subway-shoving-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN:</a> “All of a sudden there was an abrupt stop and because of everything I’ve been seeing on the news, the first thing that came to my mind was that someone probably got pushed in front of the subway, which is such a dark thought.”
She added that after roughly 10 minutes, a conductor told passengers they had to evacuate the train because there was a man under the subway. She noted, “They pulled him out, and he was laying there, and I saw his hands and fingers move. I was in so much shock that he was alive. It was unbelievable.”
The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital with injuries to his head and a broken rib but was conscious and alert. He is expected to survive, a law enforcement source <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/manhattan/man-pushed-onto-subway-tracks-chelsea-nye-nyc/6090327/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">informed</a> NBC New York.
As recently as December 22, New York Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul boasted, &#8220;In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day. Since deploying the @NationalGuardNY to support @NYPDnews and @MTA safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up.”
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In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day.  
Since deploying the <a href="https://twitter.com/NationalGuardNY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NationalGuardNY</a> to support <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYPDnews</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/MTA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MTA</a> safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up. <a href="https://t.co/T7uRxx9nIO">pic.twitter.com/T7uRxx9nIO</a>
&mdash; Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovKathyHochul/status/1870932469266190412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Critics quickly pointed out that Hochul&#8217;s claims would not be well-received on the same day that a sleeping woman was burned alive on a subway in Brooklyn — while the suspect reportedly sat and watched — and in a <a href="https://abc7ny.com/post/queens-deadly-subway-stabbing/15691084/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">separate incident</a> in Queens, one man was stabbed in the chest and another was stabbed in the face. The man who had been stabbed in the chest was later pronounced dead.
&#8220;Two hours ago, Kathy Hochul took a victory lap for making subways &#8216;safer.&#8217; She congratulates herself on the same day two subway riders were stabbed in Queens (one in the face and one in the chest) and another was barbarically burned alive. Has there ever been a more tone-deaf Governor in the history of New York?&#8221; Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) posted.
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Two hours ago, Kathy Hochul took a victory lap for making subways “safer.” She congratulates herself on the same day two subway riders were stabbed in Queens (one in the face and one in the chest) and another was barbarically burned alive. 
Has there ever been a more tone-deaf… <a href="https://t.co/KIPujqpKa3">pic.twitter.com/KIPujqpKa3</a>
&mdash; Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitchieTorres/status/1870967985344799102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Virginia Kruta contributed to this article.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kathy-hochul-brags-about-subway-safety-after-a-woman-was-burned-alive-in-nyc">Kathy Hochul Brags About Subway Safety — After A Woman Was Burned Alive In NYC</a>

New York Subway Train

Assailant Charged After Allegedly Shoving Man Directly In Path Of Oncoming NY Subway Train

The NYPD announced Tuesday that police have identified the person who was set on fire and burned to death in a subway train car last week.
The woman, Debrina Kawam, 61, had a Toms River, New Jersey address, police said.
She had a “brief stint in our homeless shelter system,” New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams <a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-subway-burning-woman-688e2ebd46f0eb8f5c9e3430cf2b4bd5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Tuesday.
The mayor added that authorities have been in contact with her next of kin.
“Hearts go out to the family, a horrific incident to have to live through,” Adams said of the killing. “It impacts on how New Yorkers feel. But it really reinforces what I’ve been saying: People should not be living on our subway system, they should be in a place of care. No matter where she lived that should not have happened.”
On Sunday last week, Kawam was sleeping on a Brooklyn F train when she was set on fire by an illegal migrant. Horrifying footage of her burning alive while standing inside the subway car spread across social media last week.
Kawam reportedly had a walker and several bags nearby as she slept on the train around 7:30 a.m. at the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island station at the end of the line. She had <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/31/us-news/mystery-woman-torched-to-death-in-horrific-nyc-subway-attack-finally-identified-by-cops-sources/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> been living in city homeless shelters since September. She had a bed at the Franklin Williams Women’s Shelter in the Bronx for a few days at the beginning of December.
The city medical examiner <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/24/us-news/woman-torched-to-death-on-mta-train-allegedly-by-illegal-migrant-still-cannot-be-idd-three-days-after-horrifying-attack-due-to-severe-burns-sources/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> had difficulty identifying the victim because the body was so severely burned.
An illegal migrant from Guatemala, Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and arson for allegedly setting her on fire. Video footage appears to show the culprit fanning the flames with his shirt, then sitting down to watch his victim burn alive.
Zapeta is being held at Rikers Island jail without bail.
He entered the country illegally in 2018 and was deported less than a week later, according to immigration authorities, but he eventually entered again and was living in a New York City shelter as of March 2023.
According to a fellow shelter resident, Zapeta was addicted to smoking the synthetic drug K2 and drank vodka heavily.
“He smoked K2, drank, and bugged out,” Raymond Robinson, who slept next to Zapeta at the Samaritan Village Forbell men’s shelter in Brooklyn, <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/24/us-news/sebastian-zapeta-calil-charged-in-womans-burning-death-on-nyc-subway-often-bugged-out-after-smoking-k2-shelter-roommate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the New York Post.
Police <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/24/us-news/sebastian-zapeta-calil-charged-in-womans-burning-death-on-nyc-subway-often-bugged-out-after-smoking-k2-shelter-roommate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Zapeta told them he had been drinking so much that he did not remember setting the woman on fire.
“This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said when the indictment was announced against Zapeta.

Woman dies after being set on fire at subway train in New York

NYPD Identifies Woman Burned To Death On Subway

Illegal Immigration

Migrants

A well-known volunteer group known as the Guardian Angels has vowed to patrol the New York City subway system once again following horrific criminal incidents on the train, including an illegal immigrant fatally setting a woman on fire.
The group, currently composed of about 150 individuals, <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/29/us-news/guardian-angels-say-theyll-start-patrolling-nyc-subway-again-after-woman-burned-to-death-on-f-train/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the New York Post that it wants to beef up its number of volunteers and act as another resource for residents.
“We’re covering the actual trains from front to back, walking through the trains and making sure that everything is okay,” founder Curtis Sliwa said on Sunday. “We’re doing this constantly now. Starting today. That’s going to be our complete focus because the subways are out of control.”
Sliwa said the red beret-wearing volunteers will hand out water and conduct wellness checks for those who are homeless or emotionally disturbed, and the group will also focus on reporting issues to the NYPD, the Post detailed.
“We’re going to have to increase our numbers, increase the training and increase our presence as we did back in 1979,” he said. “We’re going to step up. We’re going to make sure we have a visual presence just like we had in the ’70s, 80’s and ’90s.”
Sliwa said hundreds of citizens have requested that the volunteers head back to the subway in the wake of the recent crime. As highlighted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-indicted-after-allegedly-burning-woman-to-death-on-nyc-subway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a>, a 33-year-old illegal named Sebastian Zapeta was charged this month with murder and arson after allegedly burning a woman to death on the subway.
The horrifying incident follows the high-profile case of Daniel Penny, a former U.S. Marine who stepped in to protect fellow passengers after a homeless man named Jordan Neely threatened straphangers. Penny was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-daniel-penny-found-not-guilty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquitted</a> in Neely&#8217;s death earlier this month.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, have been under fire for the violent crime on the subway system. Notably, Hochul, in a particularly tone-deaf tweet, <a href="https://gazette.com/news/wex/hochul-touts-new-york-subway-safety-same-day-as-barbaric-crimes-occur/article_4ef823f3-a5f1-535a-8917-ba3934a70f67.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">celebrated</a> subway safety on the same day the still-unidentified woman was burned alive on the train and two others were stabbed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day.
Since deploying the <a href="https://twitter.com/NationalGuardNY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NationalGuardNY</a> to support <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYPDnews</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/MTA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MTA</a> safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up. <a href="https://t.co/T7uRxx9nIO">pic.twitter.com/T7uRxx9nIO</a>
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovKathyHochul/status/1870932469266190412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daniel-penny-is-not-guilty-justice-wins-in-spite-of-new-yorks-rigged-court-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Penny Is Not Guilty. Justice Wins In Spite Of New York’s Rigged Court System.</a>

The Guardian Angels patrolling the New York subway

Guardian Angels Return To NYC Subways As Crime Remains ‘Out Of Control’

Guardian Angels Set To Patrol NYC Subways Again As Crime Remains Out Of Control

Guardian Angels

Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) boasted on Sunday about her efforts to make New York City&#8217;s subways safer for commuters and visitors alike — and immediately took blowback as the news of two separate murders on the subway in the last 24 hours began to circulate.
Hochul posted her statement via X, saying, &#8220;In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day. Since deploying the @NationalGuardNY to support @NYPDnews and @MTA safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day.  
Since deploying the <a href="https://twitter.com/NationalGuardNY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NationalGuardNY</a> to support <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYPDnews</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/MTA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MTA</a> safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up. <a href="https://t.co/T7uRxx9nIO">pic.twitter.com/T7uRxx9nIO</a>
&mdash; Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovKathyHochul/status/1870932469266190412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Critics quickly pointed out that Hochul&#8217;s claims would not be well-received on the same day that a sleeping woman was burned alive — while the suspect reportedly sat and watched — and in a <a href="https://abc7ny.com/post/queens-deadly-subway-stabbing/15691084/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">separate incident</a> in Queens on Saturday, one man was stabbed in the chest and another was stabbed in the face. The man who had been stabbed in the chest was later pronounced dead.
&#8220;Two hours ago, Kathy Hochul took a victory lap for making subways &#8216;safer.&#8217; She congratulates herself on the same day two subway riders were stabbed in Queens (one in the face and one in the chest) and another was barbarically burned alive. Has there ever been a more tone-deaf Governor in the history of New York?&#8221; Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) posted.
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Two hours ago, Kathy Hochul took a victory lap for making subways “safer.” She congratulates herself on the same day two subway riders were stabbed in Queens (one in the face and one in the chest) and another was barbarically burned alive. 
Has there ever been a more tone-deaf… <a href="https://t.co/KIPujqpKa3">pic.twitter.com/KIPujqpKa3</a>
&mdash; Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitchieTorres/status/1870967985344799102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Today, a lady was burned alive on a subway in NYC. Thank you Kathy, you&#8217;ve done a bang up job,&#8221; country music star John Rich added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today, a lady was burned alive on a subway in NYC. Thank you Kathy, you&#39;ve done a bang up job. <a href="https://t.co/vSbUoIeHWo">https://t.co/vSbUoIeHWo</a>
&mdash; John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnrich/status/1871003958375862763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Are you kidding me??? You are really posting this after a woman was set on fire &amp; died on a Brooklyn train this morning and two people were stabbed (one killed) on a Queens train yesterday,&#8221; Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) responded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Are you kidding me??? You are really posting this after a woman was set on fire &amp; died on a Brooklyn train this morning and two people were stabbed (one killed) on a Queens train yesterday. <a href="https://t.co/PE3udrHxPZ">https://t.co/PE3udrHxPZ</a>
&mdash; Nicole Malliotakis (@NMalliotakis) <a href="https://twitter.com/NMalliotakis/status/1870954071818989568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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New York City Council member Robert Holden added, &#8220;Unbelievable timing: just hours after a woman was senselessly burned alive, and two people were stabbed, one fatally. Kathy Hochul’s incompetence is costing lives—she needs to leave public office immediately before more New Yorkers suffer.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Unbelievable timing: just hours after a woman was senselessly burned alive, and two people were stabbed, one fatally. 
Kathy Hochul’s incompetence is costing lives—she needs to leave public office immediately before more New Yorkers suffer. <a href="https://t.co/P9LPIT9C0c">https://t.co/P9LPIT9C0c</a>
&mdash; Robert Holden (@BobHoldenNYC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BobHoldenNYC/status/1870939058312221101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Rep. Mike Lawler commented, &#8220;It’s clearly not working. You are the single most inept Governor in the country and should be ashamed at the gross incompetence of your administration’s handling of public safety in New York.&#8221;
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It’s clearly not working. You are the single most inept Governor in the country and should be ashamed at the gross incompetence of your administration’s handling of public safety in New York.<a href="https://t.co/DHJG1QVipg">https://t.co/DHJG1QVipg</a> <a href="https://t.co/u00PZbFcLS">https://t.co/u00PZbFcLS</a> <a href="https://t.co/uN1L3tsoO5">pic.twitter.com/uN1L3tsoO5</a>
&mdash; Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) <a href="https://twitter.com/lawler4ny/status/1870937526602461222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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New York Governor Hochul Makes Announcement On Congestion Pricing Plan

Kathy Hochul Brags About Subway Safety — After A Woman Was Burned Alive In NYC

Kathy Hochul Brags About Subway Safety Measures — After A Woman Was Burned Alive In NYC

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