Triple Murder Suspect's Last Victim Describes Attack

Triple murder suspect Maksim Gelman (AP)

Triple murder suspect Maksim Gelman's 28-hour rampage, during which he is accused of stabbing seven people as well as fatally striking a pedestrian with a car, ended Saturday morning after he attacked Joseph Lozito on the uptown 3 train. It seems that Gelman messed with the wrong guy: "You better hope I f---ing die, because I’m going to kill you if I don’t," Lozito shouted at Gelman after he had been apprehended by police.

Considering that Lozito is a 6-foot-2, 270-pound mixed martial arts buff, Gelman definitely picked a hard target to pin down: "I’m glad he didn’t go after a child, or after a woman, or after an elderly person, because I can defend myself," Lozito told the Post. Lozito, a father of two, recounted the incident to both the Post and News from his hospital bed at Bellevue: he was commuting from suburban Philadelphia to his box office job at Avery Fisher Hall when Gelman began wildly pounding on the motorman's door, pretending to be a cop. He then turned to Lazito and said, "You are going to die," before lunging at him with the knife. After being struck in the head, Lazito saw an opportunity to fight back: "I tried to take him down with a wrestling move called a single leg takedown, but it ended up more like a football tackle," Lozito said.

Transit cops and Officer Terrence Howell joined in, and were able to subdue Gelman. Another passenger then helped apply pressure to Lozito's wounds. "I owe him a debt of gratitude. To me, he’s the reason I’m alive," Lozito said. Another victim, who survived being stabbed in the chest when Gelman stole his Pontiac Bonneville, told the Post that it was clear to him that Gelman knew what he was doing: "He’ll probably use the insanity defense but it was premeditated. He went after three people he knew first," said Arthur DiCrescento.

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

By Ben Yakas in News on February 13, 2011 8:54 PM

Comments [rss]

Samba Lamba

If you do not make examples of losers like these, it will happen again, with an attitude of "what's the worst that can happen". You think this guys cares about staying in prison for the rest of his life. Insane or not, cut off his arm, leg, or imprison them within their own bodies with no means of movement over and over again (you have to wake them for a day or two so they know how it feels). Why are we still using the punishment (or non-punishment) of yester-decade while everything else is so high tech. Go for high-tech punishment!

The problem is, where do you draw the line. Oh it is so easy. If this guy goes up to someone he doesn't know and says "You will die" he's one of them.

Whoever is defending this guy should be stoned as well.

chuzzlewit

SWEEP THE LEG JOEY!

WaiLik Leung

edit

WorksInDUMBO

So what's the deal with the paper outfit? (that is a real question, not a snarky remark)

jibbly

Maybe since he's dangerous (stabby stabby) and/or suicidal, they issue paper clothes so the worst he can threaten people is with paper cuts?

JeanneNYC

Preserving evidence maybe?

jaysonlinereviews

6 ft 2 and 270 that is a big boy on top of being a mixed martial artist.Spiv I agree with your comment 5 minutes alone in a padded room with all the victims family members so they can tear him to shreds now that is justice in my book.

http://www.jaysonlinereviews.c...

robert bose

If ever there is a person who deserves the death penalty.....
and of course, the New York State court system will let us down again.....
Are we prepared to pay the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to feed, clothe, and shelter this fine citizen for the rest of his natural life?
Isn't New York state in a fiscal crisis?
Bleed this man to death already and use the $$$ saved to pay a teacher's lifelong salary, benefits, and pension.
Money more well spent. No?

SFNY

Actually, the least expensive way to deal with people like this may be life in prison without parole.

Any time you get into death penalty, appeals, retrials, etc, it can start costing millions: prosecuting and defense attorneys, judges, jurors, court reporters, transporting prisoner to & from hearings, expert witnesses, psychiatrists, jury consultants. Pretrial preparation is more lengthy and involved, the personnel on the case are doubled, and the trial itself will be 3 to 5 times longer. And then there are the years and years of appeals trying to get the sentence reduced to "just" LWOP.

One commission in CA found that capital cases cost an extra $117 million per year. This is compared to the normal cost of confinement, which in CA in 2008 was below $40,000 per year. When coupled with the fact that the number of death row inmates that are actually executed is extremely low in most states, because of the length and complexity of appeals, this adds up fast.

Life in prison doesn't satisfy society's revenge impulse, but may be more fiscally responsible.

eyekantspel

The reason the death penalty costs so much is because of the appeals, retrials, etc. In cases like this, assuming what I imagine are multiple witnesses who can identify him as the person who did it, without a doubt, and the physical evidence will back that up, how about an expedited bullet to the head?

WetButt

Truly the definition of a savage

freddynyc

Geez, Gelman's got to be insane - take a look at Lozito...

silver

GTA 4 IRL

Guest

in certain countries, the authorities put a mask over a serial killer's face when shown in public -- i think it's because the face is never quite the same after he/she's killed a bunch of people.

shocktheday

Or accused cop killers ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

freddynyc

That scumbag got off easy, in my book....

spiv

He got off easy. Victims should be allowed 5 minutes alone with these pieces of shit - it would save us all a lot of time and money.

splicernyc

He's got a bad attitude problem and that won't sit well with other inmates. I see him being left alone in the laundry room for a few minutes -- all it will take.