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Subway Stabber Escaped Through Station Without Cameras
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 30, 2010
Modified Mar 30, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 30, 2010
Modified Mar 30, 2010
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Investigators have few leads in their search for a man who fatally stabbed two men and injured another during a fight on the No. 2 train early Sunday morning. Yesterday cops continued canvassing the Greenwich Village area, handing out fliers and looking for witnesses. But they have no description of the attacker, who is only described as Hispanic. Part of the challenge facing investigators is that the Christopher Street station, where the man is believed to have fled the subway, has no surveillance cameras.
There are 4,313 security cameras throughout the system, but more than 2,000 of them are inoperable. Half of those were installed by Lockheed Martin, which won a $212 million contract with the MTA back in 2005 to install 1,000 video cameras and 3,000 motion sensors, as well as enable cellphone service in 277 underground stations. But the work is stalled because the company and the MTA are suing each other; Lockheed blames the MTA for not giving them enough access to the system, while the MTA blames Lockheed for faulty technology.
Only 69 stations out of 468 in the system have the most common type of subway security camera, which monitors turnstiles. But 910 of those are useless due to heat, water or wiring problems. Some members of the Transport Workers Union call the subway system "blind," which is a troubling state of affairs, especially with subway bombings in Moscow in the news. Sunday's stabbing "definitely should have been recorded on surveillance camera," Norman I. Seabrook, chairman of the transportation authority’s safety and security committee, tells the Times.
It's being reported today that the bag of trash that enraged the killer on Sunday contained beer bottles. Someone in the group of friends accompanying the victims had attempted to throw the bottles out onto the subway platform on 14th Street, before the doors closed. Instead, the bottles hit the assailant in the head, WCBS reports. By the time the train reached Christopher Street, Darnell Morel of Newark and his friend Ricardo Williams of Brooklyn were dying from stab wounds inflicted by a kitchen knife. Williams' fiancee (they were to be married in a few weeks), told the Daily News, "He stuck up for his friends. He stuck up for me. He wasn't a fighter. He is usually the peacekeeper. He tries to be the voice of reason."
Tagged
lockheed martin
MTA
nyc transit
subway stabbing
surveillance camera
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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