NYC Council Member Says Subway Violence Is ‘One-In-A-Million’ Event Despite Alleged Attack Occurring Days Earlier
Trevor Schakohl on October 3, 2022
New York City councilmember Tiffany Caban, who pushed for defunding the police, cast subway violence as a “one-in-a-million event” despite an alleged subway attack occurring days earlier, the New York Post reported.
Waheed Foster, 41, was charged Thursday with attempted murder, first and third degree assault and fourth degree criminal weapon possession after allegedly attacking 33-year-old Elizabeth Gomes on Sept. 26 as she left the subway at the Howard Beach/JFK Airport station, and she lost vision in one eye, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.
“As a believer in a violence-free NYC, I still think that’s one too many, but let’s not let fear-mongering politicians and corporate media outlets scare us into thinking we have a dangerous, scary public transit system,” she said. A self-described “abolitionist,” Cabán has publicly called for defunding the police.
Gomes told the Post the subway system is “dangerous,” saying Cabán’s tweet made it seem “that she doesn’t ride the subway or have anyone to ride it.”
“She doesn’t really understand what it is,” Gomes argued, according to the outlet. “It’s just getting worse and worse.”
Numerous assaults or related crimes across the New York City transit system were reported in July, an increase over the same month in 2021. A man charged with allegedly assaulting a subway station worker on Aug. 11 had not been banned from the subways after over 40 previous arrests, ABC News reported.
.@NYCMayor once again, *your NYPD*
Defund and demilitarize the police. https://t.co/i8GFWbrm7D
— Tiffany Cabán (@tiffany_caban) November 6, 2020
Gomes expressed opposition to police defunding, the Post reported. She said “people are afraid” and “need protection” amid robberies, shootings and molestations.
Records indicate Foster was arrested on two occasions in August while on parole for assault, and he killed his grandmother at the age of 14, according to the Post.
A representative for Cabán did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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