New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is seemingly more concerned about signaling his outrage regarding an acquitted teenager in Wisconsin th...
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is seemingly more concerned about signaling his outrage regarding an acquitted teenager in Wisconsin than he is with the murder rate in his own city.
How do I know this? As of Monday morning, there were three tweets on the outgoing Democrat mayor’s account bemoaning the not-guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse case on Friday. There were zero mentions about Akeem Loney, a 32-year-old stabbed and killed in an attack on the NYC subway in the early morning hours of Sunday.
According to WCBS-TV, Loney was sleeping on the train just after midnight. The New York Police Department said another man approached him as the train was nearing Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and stabbed him in the neck.
The attack appeared to be unprovoked and police said they don’t think the two men knew each other. As of Monday morning, no suspect has been taken into custody.
“This is an absolutely horrible crime. We are working with the NYPD and will do everything possible to cooperate with their search for this perpetrator, and help make sure our subways are safe,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Aaron Donovan said.
Loney, who was from the Bronx, was homeless and had been a patient at a mental hospital. His former soccer coach told the New York Post he was “just a great guy” trying to get back on his feet.
“He was a fun-loving guy, and he absolutely loved the game of soccer,” said Reed Fox, who coached his street soccer team. “He was reliable, and he was really fun to be around.
“Not everybody working through homelessness and problems can maintain a positive attitude and be happy and find ways to have fun, and he did that.”
Subway riders that WCBS talked to were rattled by the killing.
“I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel safe at all on the train. I’m afraid to get on the train. I took a chance today after hearing what happened,” one said.
“Being alert is important. Sleeping, listening to music, things like that. I think people need to realize subways are so dangerous,” another said.
“I try not to sleep on the train and really keep to myself,” said another.
De Blasio didn’t tweet about this at all on Sunday — no outrage, no condolences to Loney’s family. To be fair, it would be difficult for the mayor to do this for every murder, for reasons we’ll get to momentarily. However, he certainly had some thoughts on Friday after Rittenhouse was acquitted of shooting three men during the Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots of 2020.
“Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum are victims. They should be alive today. The only reason they’re not is because a violent, dangerous man chose to take a gun across state lines and start shooting people. To call this a miscarriage of justice is an understatement,” de Blasio tweeted.
“The far-right trolls who think it makes a difference whether a violent gunman got his weapon before or after he crossed state lines are missing the point: two people are dead and their killer is left unaccountable. That’s not justice and they know it.
“This verdict is disgusting and it sends a horrible message to this country. Where is the justice in this?” he continued.
“We can’t let this go. We need stronger laws to stop violent extremism from within our own nation. Now is the time.”
Leaving aside the dubious merits of these arguments — Rittenhouse was chased by a lawless mob; Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum had violent criminal histories; anyone who paid the slightest amount of attention at all to the trial would have realized how weak the state’s case was — the people of New York don’t need a mayor who preens about the Kyle Rittenhouse case from the mayoral account. They don’t need Rittenhouse smeared as a “killer” after a jury acquitted him. They need a mayor who works for them, even if he happens to be a lame duck.
Perhaps de Blasio is positioning himself for higher office once he leaves Gracie Mansion. If so, reminding people about his progressive bona fides on his way out mightn’t be the best idea. There’s a reason why New York City elected a former NYPD officer who ran a law-and-order campaign to take his place, and it’s not because the city’s lurch to the left went over well with residents.
The city’s murder rate skyrocketed during the last two years of de Blasio’s term, spiking 41 percent to 447 deaths in 2020. The numbers were similar through mid-October this year, too, as per an opinion piece by the New York Post’s Nicole Gelinas.
If murder numbers in recent months are down, those are only in comparison to the annus horribilis of “defund the police.” Yes, there were only 46 people murdered in the city in September 2021 vs. the 59 murdered in September 2020, according to city data. However, in September of 2019, there were only 29 murders. Add to this a mayor who actively fomented anti-police sentiment during the turbulent events of the past two years and it’s no wonder New Yorkers are afraid.
But what was really important to de Blasio — on the weekend where an innocent 32-year-old man was stabbed to death on the subway in the city where he remains the most powerful elected official — was making sure everyone knew he thought Kyle Rittenhouse was a “killer.”
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