Assaults on New York City Cops Soar to Record-Breaking Levels

Assaults on New York City Cops Soar to Record-Breaking Levels

By:  Hadassa Kalatizadeh

New York City’s Finest are getting beat on at record-breaking levels.

As reported by the NY Post, the number of NYPD cops hurt by suspects soared by 20 percent in 2022, with 4,724 uniformed officers suffering  injuries in attacks, up from 3,933 attacks in 2021, per the latest NYPD data.  Things got worse still in the first three quarters of 2023, when 4,077 cops were hurt by suspects in only the first nine months of the year, on pace for a record-breaking 5,436  injuries for the year 2023.  The data for the last quarter of 2023 has not yet been released.

“Well over 5,000 cops were attacked and injured last year – that’s not only a record, it’s a full-blown epidemic,” said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry.  “The vicious attacks on police officers we’ve seen recently didn’t come out of nowhere. This dangerous environment has been building for years. . . . It’s not going to get better until those who attack police officers  are consistently prosecuted and kept in jail. And that won’t happen unless New Yorkers keep speaking up to demand an end to the chaos.”

Per the Post, the disturbing escalation of assaults on officers have a number of attributing factors including: radical protests, an influx of criminal migrants, homelessness, bail reform laws, anti-cop rhetoric and soft-on-crime prosecutors.  Just last week as many as 14 migrants joined in a vicious caught-on-camera beating of two police officers in Times Square. Only one of the suspects made it to jail, with five others charged but let go without bail. Several of them reportedly headed to California upon release.

“Everyone wants to fight,” said one 28-year-old female cop on the Upper West Side who was recently injured while handcuffing a shoplifting suspect. She said the suspect fought against her violently leading her to sprain her hand.  “He got out the same day,” the cop added.

The violent assaults keep coming.  In a single recent day on Jan. 22, four officers were wounded in two separate attacks by unhinged New Yorkers.  First, a machete-wielding madman slashed a sergeant across the head in Brooklyn and sent two other cops to the hospital.  Just an hour later, a fourth cop was punched in the face by a mentally unstable man at a Manhattan subway station.  On Jan.  17, a Brooklyn woman was caught on video mowing down a police officer with her car at a Manhattan crime scene.  Sources said she later told authorities it was intentional, saying, “F–k these cops, it’s a lesson to him.”  She was criminally charged.

The dangerous trend of assaults has also shown a rise in more critical injuries for cops due to the assaults.  The NYPD’s “Threat, Resistance and Injury” data has three categories: physical injury, substantial injury and serious physical injury.  In 2021, a total of 295 officers were either substantially or seriously injured.  In 2022, that number rose 7% to 315 cops substantially or seriously injured.  In the first three quarters of 2023, there were already 261 substantial or serious injuries — set up for a 10% spike to 348 for the year, per the Post.

“There’s no respect for the law,” a 40-year-old cop told the Post, adding that the prevailing anti-cop attitude has led officers to fear civilian complaints and departmental discipline.  “Now, you have to be careful what you do. They’ll come after you.”