Homeless men have been repeatedly accused of attacking New Yorkers over the past 12 months, with alleged victims including an infant and an elderly woman and some cases resulting in murder charges.
In one instance, a homeless man was accused of fatally pushing a woman in front of an oncoming subway train. Another faces allegations that he slashed a man's neck, killing him. Prosecutors say a third raped a woman while she was jogging in the West Village. One woman said a homeless man killed her dog and, in a second encounter, maced her.
"This is becoming a daily story," a Manhattan police officer told The New York Post in September. "A homeless person wandering the streets attacks innocent people. Only the neighborhood names change."
New York City's overall crime increased by 22.4% in 2022 compared to 2021, according to the New York City Police Department. Homicides dropped by 11%, down to 433 —the fewest since 2019.
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Jessica Chrustic, of Brooklyn, said that in August, a homeless man in Prospect Park sprayed urine on her, then struck her and her dog, killing him. A few months later, the same man maced her.
In September, New York City police arrested another homeless man, Elkin Ortiz, for allegedly attacking five people on the Upper West Side over the course of about an hour. One victim suffered a shattered orbital bone and a fractured nose, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Samantha Levitz said in court, according to the New York Post.
Ortiz had been released from state prison less than one month before the incident and was still on parole from a May 2021 assault conviction when he carried out the alleged attacks, according to The New York Post.
WOMAN CHOKED, RAPED ON NYC MORNING JOG THROUGH SWANKY NEIGHBORHOOD
The same day Ortiz was arrested, another homeless man, Antonio Marquez, was charged with felony assault for attacking a 71-year-old woman on the Upper East Side, according to prosecutors. He was also accused of throwing a bottle that hit a 1-year-old girl moments later.
A doorman, Fernando Ortega, said he saw Marquez punch the woman.
"She was walking toward him and he was walking toward her, and he just punched her in the face," he told the Post. "Then he picked up a bottle and threw it at a little baby."
"After that we all got together and cornered the guy until the police came," he continued.
At least four homeless men were charged with murder in 2022.
One, Martial Simon, was accused of fatally shoving an Upper West Side resident, Michelle Go, in front of an oncoming subway train in Manhattan in January that year. Simon, a homeless man with a criminal history dating back decades, was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.
Alvin Charles, another homeless man, was charged with murder in September for allegedly slashing a man's neck on a subway train in Brooklyn. Carl Phanor, also homeless, faces rape and attempted murder charges, among others, after he was accused of attacking three different women over an eight-month period.
And Waheed Foster was accused of beating Elizabeth Gomes as she exited a Queens subway stop in September 2022. Gomes, as a result, lost vision in one eye, according to prosecutors.
Foster faces attempted murder and assault charges. The homeless man was previously convicted of beating his grandmother to death when he was 14, The New York Post reported.
To watch Chrustic's firsthand account of violence at the hands of a homeless man, click here.
