Yesterday, Sunday 1/26, at 4:30pm I was on the uptown Time Square 42nd platform waiting for the N train to take me to Astoria. I immediately saw at the back of the platform an emotionally disturbed person who looks like the photo I have included. He was threatening to kill women and throw them onto the tracks. He approached Joanne Galanos and was screaming that he would kill her.
She immediately hid behind a partition. At that point, I confronted the EDP who spat at me and then started moving away. At that point, 4:34pm, I called 911 and reported the EDP. I then followed him down the platform where the EDP confronted me again, this time swinging at my head. I ducked, and continued to follow him. Finally, two cops arrived near the shuttle train exit and separated the EDP and me. One cop took the EDP upstairs onto the streets and turned him loose. When he returned, he said “OH HE IS ONE OF THE REGULARS.”
I couldn’t believe it! I demanded that the EDP be arrested. Sergeant Lagattolla (shield #2466) and 2 regular NYPD cops arrived from the Transit Task Force based at w43rd st and 8th ave. They also refused to arrest the EDP. I forced them to return to the scene of the crime because the EDP had also tried to push two women onto the tracks as I was tracking him on the platform. Those two women had left. But a third, Joanne Galanos, was still there. She explained how the EDP had stalked her but the cops still refused to do anything. I then said “I want him arrested for attempting to assault me.” The cops again refused to do anything.
The EDP had threatened to kill women and nothing was done. The cops claimed there was nothing they could do. The prior day, Saturday 1/25, Joanne Galanos had been threatened by another man on that same platform at 11am and showed the police that she now had pepper spray. They told her that if she used it, they would have to arrest her. They also said the EDP could sue her if she used it. Joanne asked, “What am I to do?” And they said, “Call 911” halfway laughing. Joanne Galanos is a WABC listener. After the cops left, I escorted her on the N train to Ditmars Boulevard.
This is crazy! The city is allowing the emotionally disturbed to live and assault people in the subways and they do nothing to stop it! Included also is a message from the assault victims brother thanking me for my help.
