An ex-convict who allegedly beat a 60-year-old woman with a cane in a Harlem subway station has been let go by police after the brutal attack was caught on camera — and the officers’ response is now under investigation, The Post has learned.
In footage that has now gone viral, the burly suspect – publicly identified by police on Tuesday as 43-year-old Norton Blake – hit Laurell Reynolds, 60, dozens of times in the head, stomach, legs, arms, back and hands as he fell to the ground inside the West 116 Street and Lenox Avenue station at about 3:30 a.m. on Friday.
“They should have caught him!” Reynolds, who is disabled and uses a walker and doesn’t work, told The Post in a bedside interview.
“I don’t deserve that. Not at all, not at all … and I pray to God that it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” he added. “They need to get that guy off the street.”
A transit worker called the city’s Train Control Center — which in turn called 911 — as he recorded the attack early that morning, according to Richard Davey, president of the New York City Transit Authority.
Police spoke with both Reynolds and Blake when they arrived — and eventually released the suspect after the two offered conflicting accounts of what happened, according to law enforcement sources.
Although responding police have seen the video, it’s unclear whether they watched it before or after they let Blake slip into the wind.
Laurell Reynolds, 60, on the day she was attacked and beaten with her own cane in a Harlem subway station. Lashanna Reese
Reynolds remained hospitalized Tuesday after being beaten so hard that the cane shattered on his body.
Her daughter Lashanne Reese, 41, also slammed police for failing to arrest Blake at the station — and complained that no one came to her mother’s aid.
“He could have done this to someone else’s mother or father because they didn’t lock him up,” Reese, of the Bronx, told The Post Tuesday of the officer’s actions.
“That man could have killed my mother … You all did nothing. I have a problem with that,” he said about no one helping.
“He needs help — no, he shouldn’t be on the streets,” Reese, who works at the Bronx Crisis Management System/Community Justice Center, said through tears. “He just attacked my mother and beat her with a cane. He does not belong on the streets.”
Blake — who sources say has nine prior arrests for various crimes including drug possession, assault, trespassing and resisting arrest — gave police a false name when they arrived, sources said.
Lashanne Reese, Reynolds’ daughter, said she was angry that no one came to help her defenseless mother as the suspect hit her more than 50 times. Robert Miller
It’s unclear what sparked the attack, although NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper said Tuesday a witness reported it stemmed from an argument that broke out as the victim climbed the subway stairs.
Reynolds, from his bed at Harlem Hospital, told The Post that he met Blake on the stairs at the station — and he was less than friendly.
“I was trying to get my walker up the steps, and this guy came down and he was like, ‘Move bi–h, get out of the way,'” she recalled.
“He really started cursing me,” she said. “Then he pushed me down and hit me with the cane and knocked me down … he took my walker and he hit me.
“I tried to get him off of me, because he hit me and he hit me with this cane and he hit me hard and everything,” she continued. “He hit me on my head and everywhere and all over. It’s nothing I can do.”
Reynolds said the police, when they arrived, did little to rectify the situation.
“I told the police, ‘Lock him up, because he attacked me,'” he said, adding that after they talked to Blake, they told him that if they locked him up, they had to lock him up too.
“I guess because I was trying to defend myself?” he said. “But you know, that’s not right at all.”
Reynolds could not recall if he said anything to the accused, which he did not know.
“I lost my memory,” he said. “My eyes first [swollen shut] … This is how badly he beat me, which I don’t remember. The stick broke on me.”
Reynolds also said he was disappointed that the transit worker who recorded the ordeal never stepped in to save him.
A disturbing video captures the moment Norton Blake allegedly hit Reynolds with his own cane. via Twitter
“I was like, ‘Please help me, help me!'” he said. “And they didn’t do anything in that booth.”
Davey, president of New York City Transit, said the workers did what they were supposed to.
“This agent acted exactly as I expected. He was filming it, reporting it,” he told The Post.
“There is now a video of the crime, so whatever defense is going to be put forward will be very bad as a result of the video,” he continued. “It’s disgusting and disgusting and I hope it goes before a court and a jury in no time.”
Blake has yet to be found, although police officials believe he will be caught soon.
Close-up photo of Blake, who remains on the run after he allegedly hit Reynolds with his cane as he walked in a Harlem station early Friday. via Twitter
Reynolds yelled at the man, according to the recording. He wrestled the cane from her before she attacked him. X (fka Twitter)
The madman hit Reynolds over 50 times with a cane, then punched him.via Twitter
Sources said the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is currently investigating the response from police who responded to the 911 call.
Asked for comment, an NYPD spokesperson said, “This incident remains under investigation.”
An ambulance took Reynolds to the hospital about two hours later, sources told The Post. He had been there since about 5 a.m. on Friday.
“I was scared — I was really scared because at any moment you could be attacked or attacked by someone,” Reynolds said.
“I was in a lot of pain and it was bad,” he continued. “I can’t use the bathroom. I have been using the pan to use the bathroom now. I can’t do anything, I can barely clean myself.”
Additional reporting by Joe Marino and Amanda Woods
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
