New York City Mayor Eric Adams lauded the increased subway presence of police officers and National Guard members and also defended the New York Police Department (NYPD) for tasing a man in a Queens migrant shelter.
Adams defended the police's response to a situation caught on camera at a migrant shelter in Queens on Friday night during his regular weekly press conference at City Hall on Tuesday. The video, first obtained by the New York Times, showed police tasing a man, Yanny Cordero, 47, while he was holding his one-year-old son. A police officer was also caught punching Cordero in the head twice as he was already subdued by two other officers.
“This person was under the influence of alcohol, holding the child," Adams said. "Those officers had to get that child from him so that child was not going to be endangered."
The officers responded to a person who was dangerous and they took "appropriate actions," he added.
Cordero said he had not been drinking that night as he had work the next morning and the NYPD did not provide footage from their body-worn cameras, according to the New York Times. The child was physically unharmed in the altercation.
Meanwhile, following harrowing incidents of assault and murder on the subway in January and early February, the mayor said increased law enforcement presence within the subway system was a plus. One thousand National Guard soldiers and state police officers were deployed by Governor Kathy Hochul last week, and an additional 1,000 NYPD officers were ordered by Mayor Adams to patrol the subway daily.
Based on the statistics thus far, Adams gave major credit to the police “omnipresence” for the 15.4% decrease in subway crimes in February compared to the same month last year.
“If you are on the subway and all of a sudden, you come upstairs and you see that state trooper, that police officer, that National Guard, you're going to be feeling the safety,” said Adams. “That uniform means a lot to people and when I speak to New Yorkers, they say, ‘We love seeing the uniform presence’.”
The Mayor emphasized that how people feel about safety in the subway is what is important, no matter what the statistics say.
Arrests in the transit system, which accounts for less than 2% of major crime committed in NYC, are up by about 45% year to date.
Meanwhile, the administration made it clear the projected deadline to close down Rikers Island by 2027 was not going to be met.
“From a construction perspective, you know, will the jails be built by 2027? I think that that's obvious that they will not,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi.
Officials pointed out the plan for the closures was concocted in 2019, or before the pandemic, which threw a wrench in the timing and funding for the project.
“The money's not there, either,” said Ingrid Lewis-Martin, chief advisor to the Mayor, about the planned Rikers closure, noting that somebody, the state or the federal government, must provide funding.
This comes as the city faces mounting pressure over a possible federal takeover of the city’s jails to ensure a reduction in violence occurring against city inmates. At least 19 people died in police custody citywide in 2022. Nine people died last year and two have died this year in police custody, according to the news site City and State.
Four smaller jails are slated to replace Rikers, with the first one slated to be built in 2029. The total capacity of the planned facilities is 4,160 inmates which is less than the 6,167 inmates currently incarcerated in New York City jails as of February 1.
