What a nightmare: A passenger moves to restrain a 30-year-old man acting erratically and threatening straphangers, only to have the guy fall dead.
Every New Yorker’s heart goes out to the Good Samaritan, who plainly wasn’t looking to hurt anyone: The ex-Marine who asked fellow passengers call 911 as he held the unhinged guy, who turns out to have a history of “emotionally disturbed person” incidents.
We wish the Subway Samaritan well in coping with his trauma.
Blame the progressive establishment for putting ordinary citizens in the position of having to handle violent, deranged threats all the time.
For decades, “homeless rights” advocates have pushed to keep clearly mentally-ill people moving freely around town.
And now “defendants’ rights” lawmakers have made it near-impossible for cops to arrest them, DAs to prosecute them or judges to jail them.
Another case that shouldn’t have happened: Port Authority police arrested a security guard at a Manhattan Walgreens after he scuffled with a mentally ill serial shoplifter who’d attacked him.
Retired NYPD officer Salvatore Lopiccolo plans to sue the Port Authority Police Department over the March incident that left him facing charges including assault.
Lopiccolo told The Post that he didn’t want to press charges against the shoplifter (which likely would mean just another desk-appearance ticket and rapid release) as he wanted the guy to get mental health treatment.
We’re still waiting for the PAPD to explain its perplexing decision to charge Lopiccolo.
Maybe the port cops are just obeying the signals from Albany: Don’t get too tough with violent recidivists or too soft on those who’d protect innocent New Yorkers.
New York’s entire culture needs to change here, not just a few laws.
By ignoring the growing number of untreated mentally ill vagrants who roam the city, posing dangers to themselves and others, the powers that be are asking for an endless string of tragedies.