Crime in the City full episode: April 18, 2025

This week, a 14-year-old boy is stabbed in the face

Plus, police fatally shoot a man armed with a knife and... They have a whole heroin community where people are shooting up in broad daylight

The NYPD cracks down on quality of life issues. Right now, Fox 5's Crime in the City

Here are the crimes across the five boroughs. We begin on a section of Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn

where a horrific car crash claimed the lives of a mother and two of her daughters

The woman accused in this deadly wreck faced a judge for the first time

And Fox says Arthur Chan was inside the courtroom. He joins us live from Gravesend where the crash happened

Arthur, what's the latest? The latest here is that this memorial has grown and the driver behind this pain in this neighborhood

faced a judge for the first time in person since what happened out here

Even though she entered a not guilty plea, the judge ordered that she be held without bail

Now, it was on March 29th on this intersection of Ocean Parkway that a mother and her three children were crossing in the crosswalk in the middle of the day when that car slammed into them, killing the mother, her two daughters, who are eight and five years old, and also sending their four-year-old son, her four-year-old son, to the hospital in critical condition

We can now show you the face of the accused driver. It is 32-year-old Miriam Yaremi

She's now been charged with a 20-count indictment, which includes manslaughter in the second degree and criminally negligent homicide

Our records search shows her car was ticketed at least 99 times since late 2023

while Yaremi's arraignment was delayed until today because she underwent a psychiatric examination

The Brooklyn District Attorney speaking after the arraignment said the focus is on Yorimi driving nearly 70 miles an hour

which is double the speed limit, while running red lights before killing the mother and her two children

What is her responsibility under the law, and can it be shielded by a psychiatric condition

Well, it's clear. One thing is very clear. This car had many, many violations, right

speeding tickets, running red light tickets. The driver, the vehicle has been ticketed so many

times. The driver, the allegation you heard it in court, has a suspended license as well

What's very clear is that she should not have been on the road that day

Well, Urimi's lawyer also had a lot to say, arguing that she should be released

claiming that this was her first offense. And because she has a daughter, She should be let go, also saying that the press is inaccurately portraying his client

The statements that have been made in the press about her being a scofflaw and having a number of traffic and moving violations, that is unfounded

I have seen no evidence to even suggest that she's ever been pulled over by the police and ticketed a single time

Now there's a lot to talk about here, including a TransAlt report today of drivers who have cars

that have amassed hundreds of tickets and how the red flags, but that the city and the state does

not have a way to apply any sort of change in behavior to them. As for Urimi on the manslaughter

charge, she faces 15 years for each of those counts. The judge pointing out today she could

face 45 years in prison if convicted. She's going to be back in court on June 11th

We now head to Astoria, Queens, where NYPD officers shot and killed an erratic man they said advanced toward them with a 14 knife An incident playing out this morning and now we hearing that at one point the officers tasers failed to operate Let get right out to the scene in Fox 5 Lisa Evers Lisa

what are you hearing as of right now? Well, Bianca, first of all, let me tell you exactly

where we're at. We're at 31st Street and 30th Avenue here in Astoria and it is a very busy

subway station, very busy area at all hours of the day and night and this is one of New Yorker's

biggest fears an unstable person with a weapon acting erratically this time it happened right

here in Astoria police say they received multiple calls from people saying that there was a man with

a large knife who was going around threatening people about 6 20 this morning now the NYPD says

when they arrived on the scene which is right here behind me you can see they're still working

it it's very very active when they arrived on the scene they tried to talk him down he refused to

dropped the 14-inch knife. They tased him several times. The tasers appeared to have absolutely no

effect, and he kept moving towards them and was fatally shot. As the detectives are working the

scene, the NYPD is telling us the danger became known about 6.20 this morning when 9-1-1 calls

poured in about a 61-year-old Asian man with a large knife threatening people. NYPD Chief of

Department John Schell says officers tried to contain the man who had previous incidents. There'd

been at least several incidents of similar behavior that brought the police. They tried to

talk him down, and then, of course, the tasers failed to subdue him. But when he failed to drop

the 14-inch knife and kept moving towards the cops, Chief Shell was quite clear about that. He says

they shot the man in self-defense. Here's Chief Shell. Anytime the NYPD interacts with someone in

mental distress, we attempt to slow down and de-escalate the situation with the ultimate goal

of getting the person the help they need. However, during fast-moving and hectic situations

with an armed person, we are forced to defend ourselves. Now, this comes on the day the NYPD kicks off

its two-month Quality of Life Crimes pilot crackdown. It's focused in five precincts to address New Yorkers' complaints

about issues like homeless encampments, illegal garbage dumping, open-air prostitution, drug use, and panhandling

which police say has generated a huge rise, all of these things, in 3-1-1 calls in recent years

The New York Civil Liberties Union says it's a return to zero tolerance, harsh police tactics

But the mayor and police commissioner insists they are trying to do what they can to make the city more livable

Now, right now, you can see detectives are here on this scene. This is a larger-than-usual contingent of crime scene detectives and units that are here investigating this

That's because there will also be an additional investigation by what the NYPD calls its force investigation unit that gets involved any time there is a police shooting

As for the justifiability of this entire incident, Chief Schell says that the video surveillance that they have will show that the officers did what they needed to do in order to defend themselves in a life-threatening situation

Down in Times Square, a 14-year-old boy was stabbed in the face

This happened just after a deadly bodega stabbing in Inwood left one man dead and two others injured

These two separate incidents occurred less than two hours apart. Turns this morning after a series of stabbings across Manhattan yesterday with police continuing to search for those responsible That right Violence broke out at an Inwood bodega That where three people were stabbed and then a harrowing incident in Midtown That where a young teen was stabbed in the face That also where we go right now to find Good Days

Briella Tomasetti, she is live in Midtown with the latest on this disturbing trend. Briella, good morning

Yeah, Tashani and Robert, still a lot of questions surrounding this investigation

It's unclear, for example, right now if that 14-year-old boy knew his attackers or if it was random

We do know, though, that police this morning are looking for two suspects

both last seen wearing red and black hooded sweatshirts with ski masks on

We know this all went down, according to investigators, at 7 o'clock last night on the sidewalk between 43rd and 44th Street and 8th Avenue

That teenage boy was stabbed just above the left eye. He was initially taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, but has since been stabilized

Investigators cordoned off the area with crime scene tape as they searched for evidence, but so far no arrests have been made

Less than two hours earlier, police responded to a fatal stabbing in Inwood involving three people

It happened at 530 yesterday inside a bodega at West 200 12th Street and Broadway

Investigators say a 20-year-old man was slashed in the neck and taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition

The 24-year-old man was also stabbed in the neck. He later died at the hospital

A third person, 21 years of age, was stabbed in the hand and back

He was taken to the hospital in stable condition. Those three men were reportedly involved in a dispute inside the bodega before the violence broke out

Sources telling us one of the two survivors is now under arrest

Here's what neighbors had to say. I'm very sad to understand this is still continuing in the neighborhood

It's been a long time this has been happening. never seen nothing like this. And now I'm terrified to even walk the hill much longer

As according to NYPD data, in the first quarter of 2025, the city reported its fewest number of

shootings since 1994. But last year, we saw the highest number of felony assaults in nearly

two and a half decades. Up in the South Bronx, an open-air drug market is plaguing one community

In response to this and other issues, the NYPD has launched a new quality-of-life initiative

all over the city, targeting low-level offenses, including open drug use, panhandling

illegal parking, and more. Today, the NYPD kicks off its quality-of-life crackdown

All right, as part of the pilot program, five city police precincts will directly address complaints

about everything from drug use to panhandling. Fox Live's Arthur Chen is in the Bronx right now

to let us know what's being done there. Arthur. Steve, Natasha, at the core of this

are certain surveys that we follow, including from groups like the Citizens Budget Commission

They find that the number of New Yorkers who say their quality of life is decent has been plummeting and plummeting dramatically

Now, in order to address that, as of today, the city's deploying NYPD units that focus on quality of life infractions

to different boroughs and different precincts. Now, here in this section of the Bronx, the Melrose section of the Bronx

where the 40th Precinct Station House is, we ourselves today have witnessed the problems that they are targeting

including homelessness, open drug use, e-bikes zooming on the curves, and illegal parking and ghost plates

Now, this is one of the five police precincts, as you mentioned. There is also a housing unit that getting it They in boroughs including Manhattan Queens here in the Bronx and also in Brooklyn over the past few months this neighborhood we been up to it multiple times specifically for some of these things including an open drug market

that's just two blocks west of where we stand right now, reporting on rampant drug use out in the open

And with children walking by, we have addicts sprawled out on the street and on all hours, during all hours of the day

Now, we should point out, we've talked to a lot of people while we've been up here, and not a single person has told us that their quality of life is acceptable

They say this is a neighborhood in desperate need of help. But it's drugs that you haven't even heard of that people are doing

If you were to look straight down here, they have a whole heroin community where people are shooting up in broad daylight regular

Then if you go this way, it's people smoking crack. People smoking crack right in front of the building that I actually work at

But it's hard to come in every day to work, and you've got to deal with removing people who are extremely intoxicated

You've got to move them out of the areas to start, you know, to go into just work to make money

It's very hard to even have things like this happen. Now here's the dynamic at work here

While crime stats at the NYPD show that crime is moving in the right direction

that is that it's going down, the perception of New Yorkers is that it's still very unsafe

And officials say in recognizing that they are deploying these quality of life units

hopefully by addressing some of these issues, including panhandling, homelessness, drug addiction

that they can turn the tide on that perception. And finally, we end in federal court in Lower Manhattan

where disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs pleaded not guilty to new sex trafficking charges

filed just one month before his federal trial is set to begin. Fox says Lisa Evers was inside the courtroom. Lisa, what can you tell us

Well, Natasha, we're here outside federal court where this afternoon Sean Diddy Combs pleaded not guilty to the expanded criminal indictment charging that he used his business empire for criminal activities for nearly 20 years

The feds say that's what he's guilty of, but his defense team insists it was all consensual sex

Now, I've got to tell you that Diddy walked into the courtroom with a big smile and a new look, along with a new attitude as he was brought into the 26th floor courtroom at 500 Pearl

His hair has turned white and he had a haircut and trim goatee

He appeared relaxed throughout the proceeding, acting like he did not have a care in the world

But nothing could be further from the truth. This superseding indictment brings the total number of sex trafficking and racketeering criminal charges he is facing to a total of five

A conviction on even a couple of the counts could keep him behind bars for decades

His lawyers told the judge that due to tens of thousands of new emails connected to the latest charges, they may need a two-week postponement to the start of the trial, which is currently scheduled for May 5th

Now, Judge Arun Subramanian told the court that this case is a freight train headed toward trial and gave the defense team 48 hours to file a formal request to delay the start of the trial by two weeks

So that decision will be coming this week if, in fact, they do file that application

But regardless, they'll all be back here in court on Friday to iron out any other pretrial issues that remain

That's this week's Crime in the City. Subscribe for more at YouTube.com slash Fox 5 NY