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Whoa: A NYC Transit worker who was walking home in Harlem was attacked by a group of four men. One stabbed him, but 5 train conductor Maurice Parks managed to pull out his own knife and retaliate, stabbing one 28-year-old in the chest and a 22-year-old in the stomach.
The four men, who approached the transit worker near 139th and St. Nicholas Avenue, were trying to rob him. The 22-year-old and a 15-year-old attempted to get away, but the police arrived before they could. The fourth attacker is still at large. And the 28-year-old died at the scene.
The transit worker was taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition with a stomach wound. He has not been charged with a crime.
Update: Some more details: Parks is 39 with three children - and a third-degree black belt in jujitsu; his mother told the Daily News she was glad he was able to react to his muggers, "I'm glad he did what he did. Otherwise, he would be dead." The News adds that Parks is muscular and "may have been saved by his bulk."
NY1 reports that now it seems that fatally stabbed man was not an attacker but possibly a bystander who was trying to help. NY1 also got a statement from the Transit Authority: "We're glad that this employee was able to fend off what appears to be a deadly attack. we hope he recovers fully from his injuries and is able to return to work."
Update 2: It looks more like the deceased man, Florenza Byas, was a bystander. The AP hedges the hypotheses a little more: "Though Byas has a Bronx address, police described him as a homeless man who apparently had received a summons for trespassing earlier in the night. It was unclear whether he was trying to help the victim, joined in the robbery or inadvertently stumbled into the skirmish, they said."
An anonymous police official told the Times, “The homeless guy wandered into the middle of it, unbeknownst to the victim, Parks, and he thinks he is one of the perpetrators and he stabs him. That is what it looks like. So the homeless guy is a victim. At first, everyone thought he was a perp, but it’s looking like he is a victim.”
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Sweet...
Pretty badass. However, you make it seem like he used the same knife they used on him, which the article clearly describes is not the case.
Pretty badass. However, you make it seem like he used the same knife they used on him, which the article clearly describes is not the case.
Oldmark - thanks - I just realized that too and amended. Which made me wonder - would he eventually be charged with carrying a concealed weapon? Even in self-defense?
OK, who's going to be the first to say you shouldn't try and protect yourself? I know it's coming...
too bad nyc doesnt allow good law abiding citizens to carry conceal weapons like guns etc...
everytime i been mugged and beaten. i saw it coming. i could of shot them all dead.
Whoa. Muggers, take note. Do not mess with a guy who is:
1) Muscular.
2) Armed.
3) A third degree black belt in jujitsu.
They gambled and lost, big time.
I am waiting for the statements from the muggers' families..."my son would never do that..he is not that kind of person...he was getting his life together...about to get his GED, go to college and become a yadda yadda yadda..."
Good for the MTA worker.
We should arrest the transit worker. Carrying any semblance of a weapon in order to protect yourself is prohibited in this city. Punish him to the full extent of the law, please.
/kidding
one time I was saved from a mugging when the two muggers yelled at a passing car at which point the car locked em up and a 7 foot tall black dude got out waving a sawed-off. everyone but him ran in about eight different directions.I wish I had a button to push or a lamp to rub to summon that dude up....
carrying a concealed knife up to 6 inches is not a crime. either way i cannot imagine charges being brought against him. he was defending himself.
too bad he didn't go bernard goetz on their asses.
Wow, that's scary. Good for the MTA guy, those creeps got what they deserved and maybe the next gang of muggers will read this story and think twice. I doubt it.
It is completely legal to carry a cane/walking stick in NYC, which is actually a much better weapon that a knife. You can stand farther back and club the tar out of your assaillant. Plus you can look swank and stylish while doing so, which is the most important thing.
carrying a concealed knife up to 6 inches is not a crime. either way i cannot imagine charges being brought against him. he was defending himself.
too bad he didn't go bernard goetz on their asses.
yeah i could see the parents of the muggers coming out to say how nice their boys are etc...
i agree to bad those other bastards aren't dead.
edEx, in NYC it's actually 4", not 6". General rule of thumb is that the blade cannot be longer than the palm of your hand.
Midtown is absolutely right. Every time that I see a family member saying that their kids should not have been killed, just "scared away" or "shot in the hand or leg" I feel that the reporter should take out a stick and whack them on the head as he asks "Oh, really?"
Oy, even though I'm glad the guy is okay I bet he feels bad about killing one of the dirtbags.
In the end though I hope he doesn't get charged or sued for anything. It was clearly self defense.
chuzzlewit: your's is comment of the day, hilarious!
This is how every street mugging should end, except with 4 dead suspects instead of 1. This guy is my new hero.
I really hope the update is wrong. It would be awful if the one person who was trying to help was the person who died... and it would be a great reason NOT to ever jump in and try to help when you see something like this happening.
the update sucks.
I thought Barbara Corcoran said Harlem was safe now.
i stand corrected, 4" concealed.
http://www.thehighroad.org/library/blades/knifelaws.html
The update is very sad indeed, but you gotta admire how it seemed to take all the hot air out of the "falling down" commentators on this site.
way to find a silver lining captainblackout.
man, this is messed up.
Meanwhile, at the West 141st Street home of the 15-year-old who was in police custody on Friday, the teenager’s older brother defended him. George A. Ventura, 21, said his brother, who he identified as Leandro Ventura, was walking home from playing basketball in St. Nicholas Park when he saw the altercation and stopped to help one of the stabbed men who was screaming for help. Mr. Ventura said his brother flagged down a police car.
“I know he had nothing to do with it,” said Mr. Ventura, who said his brother is a student at Washington Irving High School. “I know his friends, I’ve never seen my brother hanging with older dudes in my life.” He added: “He’s a good kid, he’s not a troubled dude, he always listens.”
NYTimes
Well, looks like you guys were right on the money.
that's the same thing a relative said about the bystander who was killed. he was turning his life around.
why would a 28yo hang out with a 15yo?
Since the attackers' actions were ultimately what caused the death of the bystander (if they hadn't attacked Parks, he never would have taken his knife out), is it possible that the attackers could be charged with murder?
That's what Jack McCoy would do, and will if this becomes an ep of L&O.
I believe that NY Penal law 125.25 requires a participant in the crime to have caused the death for felony murder to apply. Here, it sounds like it was the MTA worker, the victim of the crime, who caused the death.
Whether or not he can be convicted for killing an innocent person in the mistaken belief that he was defending himself is another question.
You can use deadly force to defend yourself when you reasonably believe that the other person is using or about to used deadly physical force, UNLESS you know you avoid the necessity to do so by retreating, EXCEPT there is no duty to retreat if, among other things, you reasonably believe that the other person is committing or attempting to commit a kidnapping, forcible rape, forcible criminal sexual act or robbery.
Here it seems that the MTA worker believed he was being robbed by the person he stabbed. Whether or not that was a reasonable belief is the question.