An SUV driver and his mother say they thought they were going to be killed 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 not protecting residents amid the rising number of violent crimes.
Max Torgovnick (36) was driving with his mother in the BMW when they met the large group of young people in Fifth Avenue near 21st Street.
The couple had just made a donation to a local charity when their vehicle was set up in a bad way.
According to eyewitnesses, the teens started blocking traffic and started attacking the luxury car.
Shocking video shows several teenagers bumping into BMW’s windows and stepping on the hood.
A woman says she thought she was going to be killed after a gang of teenagers surrounded her SUV and started destroying it in New York City.
The shocking incident took place in broad daylight in the heart of Manhattan on Tuesday
One young man can be seen jumping on top of the SUV and breaking into its windshield.
Bystanders say there were up to 50 teenagers at the scene, many of whom cheered when the windshield was kicked in.
The cowardly young people quickly fled on their bikes when pedestrians shouted at them to go home.
Another witness spat the attackers on the car and broke a handle as they tried to open the door and enter.
The BMW was adorned with medical number plates, but that did not deter the gang of buyers teenagers.
Torgovnick was forced to call 911 with the police nowhere to be seen. By the time police arrived on the scene, the teens were speeding away. No arrests were made.
Another witness said the attackers spat on the car and broke a handle as they tried to open the door and enter.
One witness said Torgovnick’s mother was ‘trembling and in tears’.
“We were trapped, there was so much violence, I thought I was going to die,” she said.
Torgovnick says he has lived in New York all his life and would never have been able to imagine such a scenario in the streets of his hometown.
‘This is something you would see in the streets of a war zone. “I never thought New York would get so bad,” he told The New York Post.
“I was afraid they would break the window, get in the car, get in and take us out,” said Torgovnick.
‘My only thoughts at that moment were self-defense, [that] I wanted to protect my mother and also did not want to hurt anyone. ‘
Crime statistics for the four weeks between 30 November and 27 December show that violent crime is much higher than at the same time last year
This comes as authorities in New York are struggling to curb an increase in crime.
Crime statistics for the four weeks between 30 November and 27 December show that violent crime is much higher than at the same time 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 percent increase in rapes, and a staggering 122.4 percent increase in shootings.
Violent crime began to escalate after a $ 1 billion cut in the NYPD’s budget, which was approved last summer after passionate protests to disregard the police.
Officials did not accept responsibility for the rise in crime, but rather shifted the blame.
NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told NY1 earlier this month that changes to sponsorship legislation as well as progressive policies that encourage criminal law reform are making the city more dangerous.
“Until we come to the realization as a society – is that what we want?”
“It’s good to have philosophical discussions about ‘end mass incarceration’ and ‘end incarceration’, but you do not want to do that by imprisoning the innocent public in their own apartments and houses. ‘
Shea’s boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio, pushed back the commissioner’s comments.
The mayor told reporters at a town hall meeting on December 8 that the increase in violent crime this year could be attributed to a ‘perfect perfect storm’ that hit New York this year.
‘You can not combine a massive health crisis, tens of thousands of people die, hospitals are overwhelmed, economies are closed, schools are closed, worship services are closed, society does not have its normal places of light at the same time, a social justice crisis … says the mayor .
“Come on, it’s not like everything we’ve seen in our history, and I do not believe like something we’ll see in our lives again.”
De Blasio acknowledged that there was an ‘increase in violence’, although he added that it was ‘clearly addressed because we are ruling the situation together again’.
“We were trapped, there was so much violence, I thought I was going to die,” the frightened female passenger apparently said.