An SUV driver and his mother say they thought they were going to die after a gang of teenagers surrounded their car and started destroying it in New York City.
The shocking incident occurred in broad daylight in the heart of Manhattan on Tuesday – evidence that Big Apple officials are failing to protect residents amid rising rates of violent crime.
Max Torgovnick, 36, was driving the BMW with his mother when they found a large group of young men riding their bikes up Fifth Avenue near 21st Street.
The couple had just delivered a holiday donation to a local charity when their vehicle was violently attacked.
According to witnesses, the teenagers started blocking traffic and attacking the luxury car.
Shocking video shows several teenagers punching the windows of the BMW and stepping on its hood.
A woman said she thought she would be killed after a gang of teenagers surrounded her SUV and started destroying it in New York City
The shocking incident occurred in broad daylight in the heart of Manhattan on Tuesday
A young man can be seen jumping on top of the SUV and crashing into the front windshield.
Viewers say there were up to 50 teenagers on the scene, many of whom applauded when the windshield was activated.
The collective cowardly youth ran off quickly on their bikes while pedestrians shouted for them to go home.
Another witness said the attackers spit in the car and broke a doorknob as they tried to open the door and enter.
The BMW was adorned with medical plaques, but that did not stop the gang of shameless teenagers.
Torgovnick was forced to dial 911 without the police being seen. Until the police came on the scene, the teenagers ran off and no one was arrested.
Another witness said the attackers spit on the car and broke the door handle while trying to open the door and get in.
A witness said that Torgovnick’s mother was ‘shaking and crying’.
‘We were in prison, there was so much violence that I thought I was going to die,’ she would have said.
Torgovnick says he has lived in New York all his life and could never have imagined such a scenario taking place on the streets of his hometown.
‘This is something you would see on the streets of a war zone. I never thought New York would look this bad, ‘he told The New York Post.
I was afraid that they would break the window, get in the car, get in and pull us out, ”said Torgovnick.
‘My only thoughts at that time were self-defense, [that] I wanted to protect my mother and I also didn’t want to hurt anyone. ‘
Criminal statistics for the four weeks between November 30 and December 27 show that violent crime is much higher than in the same period last year
This comes at a time when New York authorities are struggling to combat rising crime.
Criminal statistics for the four weeks between November 30 and December 27 show that violent crime is much higher than in the same period last year.
In the 28 days to December 27, 2020, there were 21 murders – an increase of 61.5 percent compared to the same dates in 2019.
There was also a 4.2% increase in rapes and an impressive 122.4% increase in shootings.
Violent crime began to increase after a $ 1 billion cut in the NYPD budget, which was approved last summer, after passionate protests to remove police funding.
The authorities no longer took responsibility for the increase in crime, but instead transferred the blame.
NYPD police commissioner Dermot Shea told NY1 earlier this month that progressive policies that encourage criminal justice reform are making the city more dangerous.
‘Until we reach that understanding as a society – is that what we want?’
“It’s good to have philosophical discussions about ‘end of mass incarceration’ and ‘end of incarceration’, but you don’t want to do that by turning the innocent public into prisons in your own apartments and houses. ‘
Shea’s boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio, rejected the commissioner’s comments.
The mayor told reporters at a city hall meeting on December 8 that the rise in violent crime this year can be attributed to an “absolutely perfect storm” that hit New York this year.
‘You cannot combine a massive health crisis, tens of thousands of people dying, overburdened hospitals, closed economy, closed schools, closed houses of worship, society not having its normal bonds at once, a crisis of social justice .. . ‘said the mayor.
‘Come on, this is not like anything we have seen in our history and I believe it is not like anything we will see again in our lives.’
De Blasio acknowledged that there was an ‘increase in violence’, although he added that it is ‘clearly being addressed because we are in control of the situation together again’.
“We were in prison, there was so much violence that I thought I was going to die,” said the terrified passenger.