Angry Bloomberg Defends Locking Passengers in With Killer

[tekisui]

Source: The Raw Story

In the remade-twice film "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," armed men take passengers on a New York City subway train hostage.

On Saturday, the NYPD effectively informed a train conductor to seal passengers in a subway car with a murderer.

Apparently, creating potential hostage situations is a new crime stopping tactic.

"Nearly 30 petrified passengers were trapped on a Midtown hell train yesterday with a knife-wielding madman and the blood-soaked body of a straphanger he just stabbed to death in a senseless argument over a seat," The New York Post reported Sunday. "The Bronx-bound D train came to a screeching halt at around 2 a.m. in the tunnel between the Rockefeller Center and Seventh Avenue stations when a rider yanked the emergency cord after watching the carnage unfold."

The paper adds, "The group of riders were stuck in the car behind locked doors as a pool of blood began to form around the dying man and the suspect, Gerardo Sanchez, 37, of The Bronx, coldly stood over him. Eventually, Sanchez strolled to one end of the car, and the rest of the passengers fled to the opposite end."

The Post reports, "Cops relayed word to the operator to keep the car sealed until they arrived — leaving horrified straphangers trapped in with the killer and the body for about five minutes until the doors opened at the station, the sources said."

(snip)

The newly reelected mayor of New York City believes that it's an outrage - that anyone would be outraged about being locked on a subway car with a murdererer.

Metro International notes, "Mayor Michael Bloomberg angrily defended the NYPD’s decision to lock the doors of an uptown D train Saturday so police could arrest Jerry Sanchez, the alleged subway stabber."

“If you open all the doors and let everyone run in every direction, you would have the murderer back on the street and I don’t think that’s what anybody wants,” said Bloomberg, his face reddening as he answered reporters’ questions on the topic.

The AP notes Bloomberg added, "Letting everybody run in every direction and have a murderer back on the streets doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

more: http://rawstory.com/2009/11/nypd-conductor-seal-passengers-murderer/

[MadMaddie]

1. I think this was a tough call

Leaving him with the other passengers could have been a hostage situation. On the other hand if all of the passengers would have fled the killer could have blended in and escaped.

Would I want to be one of the other passengers no, but again it's a tough call.

[tekisui]

2. I wonder if the killer had a gun would the same decision be made.

[Me.]

3. Easy For Bloomberg To Say

Wonder how he'd feel if it was him?

[Warpy]

4. I've seen that done in Boston

when the cops knew a bad guy had boarded a train at a crime scene. They sealed the whole train at the station and just opened the one car when the riot cops showed up.

Allowing that freak to escape into the crowd would have been unconscionable. While I'm sure it was terrifying for the passengers to be brought so close to a violent crime and then kept there, it was the best thing to do. Had the guy started flailing around and attacking other passengers, the motorman might have thought better about keeping the doors closed.

[angstlessk]

5. Passangers should have shouted "LETS ROLL"!

and overpowered the knife wielding killer! Of course at 2:00 am most were probably heading home from a good time had by all!

[FarCenter]

6. Don't pull the emergency cord between stations

"If a passenger witnesses a crime or a passenger becomes ill, the cord can be pulled if the train is still at the station but not when it's already departing."

"You can't get help to anyone if the train is between the stations," NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton tells the NYC tabloid.

[Gwendolyn]

7. Exactly. Not sure what the person was thinking, but last thing I'd want

is to be stuck in a dark tunnel with a raging killer locked inside my subway car.

[SteveM]

8. Bloomberg has special insight into self-defense policy...

He has armed body guards with him at all times, probably for good reason.

He doesn't allow citizens to arms themselves if they should have that good reason.

Not bad for a Republican gun-controller. Oh, wait he's an indy, now.