Skateboard Takes on Knife: A Confrontation in the NYC Subway

Just a normal day unfolds in the subway system of New York City. Such urban areas often give their residents a firsthand encounter with crime and destitution that the general American populace may never come to witness. Strangely, an event as serious as a probable attempt at homicide goes unnoticed by the mainstream media and elicits no comment from traditional news outlets. A trending video on YouTube highlights the outcome of a confrontational episode involving a knife and a skateboard. The NYC subways sometimes play host to situations that rival the drama on Broadway stages.

Each passing day unfolds a bizarre incident in the subway tunnels beneath the city, notorious for their rat infestations. Ranging from flooding and robbery to a face-off between a knife and skateboard as in this instance, the range of incidents are varied. The incident, caught on camera by an onlooker, involves two men sizing each other up in the subway passage. The initiator of the conflict brandishes a knife at a man who arms himself with a skateboard.

The event is still in nascent stages, hinting at the potential for further escalation. What is disturbing for the general American population, but seems to be an accepted part of life in NYC subway, is the presence of no less than two, and perhaps as many as four, police officers observing the skirmish from nearby. The antagonist of the story, a black man for reasons still unclear, challenges a white man carrying a skateboard.

As the black man advances menacingly, a knife unexpectedly appears in his hand. All the while, multiple policemen stand by and watch, taking no action. There’s no way to ascertain if the skateboarder spotted the knife, however, as he attempts to back away from the advancing threat, the skateboarder resorts to using his board defensively, pushing back the knife-wielding man who stumbles and drops his knife on the subway tracks.

Immediately recovering from his fall, the man starts to advance again but realizes his weapon is now on the tracks below. That’s the moment a police officer brandishing a Taser coerces the skateboarder to kneel down, even as he tries to explain the situation. The knife-wielding man, now the arrested aggressor, is hoisted back by the officers from the tracks, handcuffed, and searched.

What leaves a unsettling impression is the lack of police action during the confrontation. At least two, and possibly more, officers were present and watching the confrontation unfold. The fact that the black man was the instigator was quite clear, and even if an officer missed the sight of the knife, they should have suspected its presence by observing his concealed hand.

It was only when the black man came threateningly close to launch an attack that the skateboarder, in self-defense, used his board. Ironically, in all this time the duty-bound officers were merely spectating. If the skateboarder did not have his board, or had been unwilling or unable to use it, he could have been stabbed and potentially killed while police, seemingly prepared with Tasers, did nothing to thwart the attacker.

Any reasonable law enforcement officer should have been able to identify the imminent threat of serious injury or death in such a situation. This would have justified the use of deadly force, or at the very least, a Taser. Hence, the question arises – why did they only swing into action when the skateboarder began defending himself?

Do the police in New York City feel that in scenarios like this, they are in greater danger than a potential murderer should they decide to shoot even when it is utterly justified? Is this perceived danger intensified when the potential murderer in question is black, despite the officers themselves being of the same race? Could it be that their elected officials have convinced them that the wisest course of action is effectively doing nothing?

Will the arrested perpetrator be back scouring the streets for a new weapon even before the police complete their reports? Is such a situation as shown in the video part of the day-to-day reality for New Yorkers? If that’s the case, it seems that bringing in the National Guard, as proposed by President Trump, cannot happen soon enough.