Seeking to amend gravity knife law

From CBS:

A new push has been launched to reform New York state law against gravity knives.

State Assemblyman Dan Quart (D-Manhattan) is pushing for amendments to the law, which is 50 years old.

The Village Voice reported the law was initially intended to ban large knives that resemble switchblades, but it has been applied in more recent years to common knives with folding blades that can be purchased at hardware stores.

[DA Cyrus] Vance’s office has said most gravity knife cases end with the cases being thrown out.

Slashing incidents on the rise

From NBC 4:

Slashings and stabbings are up more than 20 percent in 2016, according to NYPD figures.

There had been 1,325 slashings and stabbings in 2016 through Sunday, compared with 1,088 over the same period in 2015. That represents a 21.78-percent increase in the category of the violent crime, which has been the focus of intense scrutiny by both the media and NYPD brass.

Subway crime, likewise, is up this year. There were 719 crimes on the city's subway system through Sunday, according to the NYPD. That's up more than 6 percent from 2015, which saw 674 crimes on the mass transit system over the same period.

What exactly is a gravity knife anyway?

From the Village Voice:

A New York appeals court heard oral arguments on January 14 in a challenge to a controversial knife law that has landed tens of thousands of suspects in jail over the past ten years.

New York's "gravity knife" law was first passed in the 1950s to combat a type of knife — often quite large and resembling a switchblade — that was popular with youth gangs. In more recent years, however, law enforcement officials in New York City have been applying the statute to common pocketknives. It's a shift in interpretation that is unique to the five boroughs and has led to the prosecution of as many as 60,000 people, many of whom carry knives for their jobs.

The Village Voice conducted a lengthy investigation into the enforcement of the gravity knife law in October.

An advocacy group called Knife Rights has been challenging the law in federal court since 2012, arguing that it is so vague as to be unconstitutional under the equal-protection clause.

Under state law, any knife that opens with the "force of gravity" or "centrifugal force" can be considered a gravity knife. In practical terms, that means any knife that can be opened with a "flick of the wrist" can be, and often is, prosecuted as a gravity knife. Thanks to changes in knife technology, the definition can apply to virtually any pocketknife on the market today.

Knife Rights argues that the "flick" is so dependent on the skill of the "flicker" that it's impossible to tell which knives are illegal and which are not; a knife that may open for a practiced flicker may be impossible to open by someone less experienced, and might never have been designed to open that way to begin with. Defense attorneys echo the sentiment, saying police officers have become adept at flicking knives that even their owners wouldn't be able to open that way.

Knife law gets a lot of unsuspecting people in trouble

From the Village Voice:

Neal ended that night in a squad car. There was only one problem: The knife he was carrying was not a gravity knife. At least, not by most of the world's definition.

According to the vast majority of police departments and district attorneys in New York State -- not to mention knife manufacturers, labor unions, and almost everyone else who knows a thing about knives -- what Neal was carrying was a perfectly legal folding knife. When gravity knives were banned under New York State law in the 1950s, the legislature actually had a very specific style of weapon in mind -- a foot-long terror that bears no resemblance to a knife like the one Neal had. True gravity knives, for all intents and purposes, have been extinct for the better part of a century; today they're relegated mostly to the antiques section on eBay.

Nonetheless, under the department's unique interpretation of Penal Code 265.01, almost every pocketknife on the market today can be considered a gravity knife. It's as if authorities in New York City were using an antiquated law against flintlock muskets to prosecute BB-gun owners.

And the prohibition is as strict as it is all-encompassing. A knife that can be shoehorned into that definition is not only illegal to carry, it's illegal to possess at all, even within one's home. The only narrow exceptions apply to those "actively engaged" in hunting and fishing, and are essentially meaningless in New York City.

The penalties are severe, too, as Neal would learn. As a prior offender, he was eligible for a felony "bump up," rendering the pocketknife Neal possessed the legal equivalent of an unlicensed, unloaded pistol. Though the court said he likely had no idea his knife was illegal, and he wasn't accused of using it toward any nefarious end, he was convicted nonetheless.

After a series of appeals, he was sentenced to six years in prison.

Wilding incident at Highland Park

From A Walk in the Park:

In what police describe as a "wilding" spree, authorities are asking for the public's help in tracking down a gang responsible for a series of vicious attacks which left two park patrons with gun-shot injuries and a third with a stab wound that required 40 stitches.

The bloody rampage happened in broad daylight on May 18, 5:45 p.m. when a group of men, believed to be in their late teens to early 20's roamed through Highland Park in East New York armed with sticks, canes, knives and at least one gun, police said.

Media reports initially said it was an altercation stemming from a basketball game. Investigators however believe the attacks were random and three separate incidents as the victims did not know each other.

A 18-year-old man reported being attacked by the gang and slashed four times in the left arm which required 40 stitches to close the wound. He told the police he didn't know why he was targeted.

A 17-year-old male was playing basketball when he was approached by a Hispanic man who asked, "are you Trinitarios?" (a violent New York-based street gang composed of Hispanics) The assailant then shot the teen one time in the left hip. The victim was treated at Jamaica hospital.

A 20-year-old man says he was walking in the park when he heard shots. He ran and he was struck one time in the right side of the chest by a bullet.

He was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he is expected to survive.

He told cops he never saw the shooter and doesn't know why he was targeted.

There are no cameras in the park.

And the NYPD is unaware of the correct spelling of Highland Park?

Still no crime in the subway

2 dead, 1 injured in subway stabbing
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Two men were killed and another injured after an early morning confrontation on a subway train.

Police responding to a call shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday found the three men when the train was stopped at the station at Varick and Houston streets.

Two of the men had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and were pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The third man had been stabbed in the arm and neck and was in stable condition.

Police said the stabbings occurred during a confrontation between two groups. Authorities were searching for those involved.

Is that all? Here I thought they were going to insinuate that a crime took place in the subway, which we know, thanks to Mayor Bloomberg, is impossible...

Already 5 murders in first 2 days of 2010!

B'klyn pool hall murder is city's 5th of the year
By JOHN DOYLE, NY Post

An argument in a backroom pool hall in Brooklyn turned into the city’s fifth homicide of the New Year late this afternoon.

Police say that around 4 p.m., gunfire erupted in the backroom of Maria’s Grocery on Broadway near Hooper Street in Williamsburg.

One man, who has not yet been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Three other men were taken to the nearby 90th precinct for questioning. Police sources described all four men, including the deceased, as Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Here's a quick recap of the others. Only the one above involved a gun.

Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
Number 4

Forest Hills man found murdered

From Fox 5:

FOREST HILLS, N.Y. - A man in his 30s was found in a pool of blood inside his apartment in Forest Hills, Queens.

The typically quiet neighborhood was turned upside down Wednesday night as detectives questioned people in the area.

Cops say the man had multiple stab wounds.

There was no evidence of forced entry to his home at 105-28 65th Avenue.

Concerned co-workers called police after he hadn't shown up for work.

Residents of Forest Hills tell Fox 5 News that the victim was a very nice man.

Food fight at Richmond Hill High School

From the Daily News:

Word went out on the Internet the night before that this year's annual prank day at Richmond Hill High School would be one to remember.

Bedlam erupted just before 10 a.m. when eggs and anything else students thought to bring to school started flying, witnesses said.

"They threw rice, barbecue [sauce], flour, baby powder, Silly String, shaving cream - everything you could imagine," said sophomore Jose Dominguez, 16.

Stephen Gonsalves, 18, was arrested for possession of a knife. Nine other students, ages 16 to 19, were arrested for criminal mischief, trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Violent offenders get around Mike's gun laws

From the NY Times:

In 2008, even as gun killings fell, the number of killings committed with knives or other “cutting instruments” rose 50 percent in New York City, the Police Department said: to 125 from 83. Some other large cities saw no such increase last year, and police officials and experts are at a loss to explain what is either a new trend or a spike.