Queensboro Cyclist Attack: "His Face Was Shattered"

bitchcakesny's flickr

Cyclist Joel Custer is recovering at Cornell Hospital after he was attacked by a half-naked elderly man while biking over the Queensboro bridge yesterday morning. He lost a few teeth and suffered a split lip and possibly a broken jaw that he underwent emergency surgery for yesterday. One reader painted a portrait of the scene which made it sound even worse than that:

The cyclist was hurt extremely severely and almost killed. His face was shattered, and he bled so much that he had to have a hole cut into his neck so he wouldn't asphyxiate on his own blood. This is not funny--just a guy on his way to work. Horrific.

Custer was attacked, seemingly randomly, by 65-year-old Everett Gayle, who police described as an "emotionally disturbed person," and who was taken to Elmhurst Hospital for psychiatric evaluation, and will likely be charged with assault. Many cyclists have previously pointed to the vulnerability of the bike/pedestrian path of the bridge, but expressed shock that the attack happened during the day. Another reader wrote of their experience on the bridge:

Somebody almost caught me by waiting in the shadows at the end of the twisty portion of the Manhattan Bridge on the Manhattan side last July - he was waiting in that spot which always gets that warm draft of subway air & made a grab for my handlebar.
It seems like an incredible lapse in security not to have (effective) surveillance on the bridge's bike paths, given that they'll close them for hours if they find so much as a discarded flashlight.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on November 13, 2010 4:27 PM

Comments [rss]

@wQueens7

the second comment/

is about Manhattan Bridge/

Not the Queensboro/

#haiku

Vincent

The 59th Street Bridge doesn't go into Park Slope, Williamsburg, or Dumbo, so it's confusing to Gothamist. Cut them some slack.

darkdrseuss

To address the shock people are having with an attack occuring in the middle of the day, the attacker was a psych patient. It doesn't excuse what he did, but it appears there is no rational to him attacking, especially the time.

Also, the reader that stated the story, was that pperson at the hospital? They do not cut holes into people's neck in the street. Was just curious

Spirit of 76

In this case, they didn't, but in some cases, emergency tracheotomies can be and must be done in the field. There's no choice between having somebody suffocate and die from a crushed larynx or cutting a slit in the throat so they can breathe, even if it risks infection. Although it should only really be done by someone who knows what they're doing.

darkdrseuss

Actually, tracheotomies are not done in the field within NYC, thus my confusion to the story. We used to be able to do needle crichotomies, but even that protocol has been removed over the summer.

And to "just saying's" comment, I was not defending the assailant, I was just pointing out that by him attacking in the middle of the day doesn't mean there is an epidemic of attacks on the bridge, just that he was a nut that attacked an innocent man with no attention to the time of day. I'm fully in support of this man being confined to a hospital ward or jail for the rest of his life.

just saying

Was this guy a psych patient before or after he attacked the cyclist? Regardless, Everett Gayle is violent, an obvious danger to unsuspecting citizens and should not be roaming the streets.

How soon will it be before this psycho is released and goes on to attack another innocent victim?