The New York Police Department (NYPD) is still searching for two people accused of misconduct involving a corpse on a Manhattan subway train late Tuesday into early Wednesday, a department spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek on Sunday.
Newsweek has reached out to the office of the chief medical examiner for comment via email on Sunday.
Why It Matters
Several recent incidents have raised public concerns about subway safety. In the past few months, a 57-year-old woman was burned to death on a subway, a man was fatally stabbed during a brawl, and a 45-year-old man was shoved ahead of an incoming subway train in Manhattan.
Despite these violent reports, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said earlier this month that subway crime has dropped to 18 percent, the second-lowest level in 27 years. Meanwhile, the Trump administration threatened to pull billions of federal funding to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last month if the agency did not provide crime data and share crime reduction plans.
Subway cars and stations have come under increased policing and surveillance, with New York Governor Kathy Hochul deploying National Guard troops and Tisch assigning more officers to transit hubs. Since December, every subway car in New York City now has surveillance cameras, with over 15,000 installed.
What To Know
A NYPD spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek on Sunday that one individual is being investigated for “grand larceny” and another for “sexual misconduct” in connection with a deceased person found on a southbound R train earlier this week.
The victim’s cause of death is still under investigation by the chief medical examiner’s office. It is not clear at what time the individual died.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Grand Larceny Report
Police are looking for a person described as “female, dark complexion, last seen with a yellow hooded sweatshirt, black pants, black baseball cap.” She faces charges of grand larceny for reportedly robbing the deceased man around 10:48 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8.
All degrees of grand larceny are classified as felonies in New York and are applied to more serious thefts evaluated at a stolen property value of over $1,000. It is not clear what the individual stole from the victim.
Sexual Misconduct Report
Later, at 12:20 a.m. on Wednesday April 9 “sexual contact happened,” to the “unconscious and unresponsive adult man,” after a 911 call reported the incident, a spokesperson for the NYPD told Newsweek. The incident took place on a southbound R train near the Whitehall Street station.
The police described the suspect as “male, medium complexion, last seen wearing blue baseball cap, black hooded jacket, yellow hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, red and white sneakers with a black backpack.”
Police shared a video and photos of the suspect online, via the NYPD Crime Stoppers social media account.
What People Are Saying
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in an April 3 announcement: “The women and men of the NYPD are driving record-breaking reductions in crime and violence. In the first quarter of this year, we’ve cut shooting incidents down to the lowest number in history and made our subways safer than they’ve been in nearly a decade. Our precision policing strategies aren’t just working — they’re delivering historic results and making New York City the safest big city in the nation.”
President Donald Trump said during a March speech: “Women can’t ride the subway without worrying that a hoodlum will shove them onto the train tracks in New York. It’s happened twice in the last couple of weeks.”
What Happens Next?
The public is encouraged to report any information on the suspects to the police at 800-577-TIPS.
