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People Ignored Homeless Man Dying Of Stab Wounds
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 24, 2010
Modified Apr 24, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 24, 2010
Modified Apr 24, 2010
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Earlier this week, firefighters found the body of a homeless man stabbed to death on a Jamaica, Queens street. Police believe he was killed when trying to stop an attack on a woman. Now surveillance video not only shows part of the his struggle with the attacker but also that pedestrians walked by the dying man—and ignored him—for over an hour.
The victim, Hugo Tale-Yax, 31, is seen on the video approaching a man who was threatening a woman with a knife at 88th Road and 144th Street around 5:40 a.m. The man turned and stabbed Tale-Yax, and both the stabber and woman fled in different directions with Tale-Yax bleeding. The Post reports:
In the wake of the bloodshed, a man came out of a nearby building and chillingly took a cellphone photo of the victim before leaving. And in several instances, pairs of people gawked at Tale-Yax without doing anything.
Later, another man stopped, leaned over and vigorously shook Tale-Yax’s body. After lifting the victim’s head and body to reveal a pool of blood, he also walked off.
Fifteen minutes later, firefighters arrived. (Video after the jump.) One neighbor was horrified no one tried to help, "How can you be so heartless? If he’s dying, he might’ve been saved. If you don’t want to get involved, call 911 and leave."
Police are looking for a suspect, who is described as being 5' 6" with a medium build, wearing a green short sleeve shirt and dark pants with a green hat. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
Tagged
crime
fatal stabbing
homeless man
ignored
jamaica
queens
stabbing
surveillance video
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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