Three teenagers who badly battered Fox News weatherman Adam Klotz on the New York City subway have been released without charges.
Locals and people across the US were up in arms today after discovering the suspects – who are aged between 15 and 17 – will not face a criminal investigation, with many asking how anyone can feel safe in the city.
The handling of the case has added fuel to criticism of Eric Adams and the NYPD – as Klotz himself has called on the Mayor to increase surveillance on the subway. Manhattan’s ‘woke’ DA Alvin Bragg claimed this case is not one for him to deal with, as the suspects are juveniles.
Klotz had injuries to boy eyes and grazes on his face, but said the wounds to his body were worse in a video uploaded to Instagram account on Sunday
Meanwhile others have taken aim at New York mayor Eric Adams who one user called ‘an empty suit’, adding that living in the city is ‘not safe’.
Klotz was left with a black eye and bruised ribs because he intercepted a group of teenagers on the subway at around 1.15am on Sunday after they were reportedly trying to set an older man’s hair on fire. The 37-year-old weatherman appeared bruised and bloodied in an Instagram post on Sunday.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department confirmed to DailyMail.com that two 15-year-old men and one 17-year-old had been arrested but were released to their guardians with Juvenile Reports for Assault.
New York citizens appeared horrified by the news today as they took to Twitter to vent their frustration.
One user wrote: ‘Why were the thugs who attacked Adam Klotz released? How can anyone feel safe in the city?’
Another said: ‘Not one of these creatures spent even a night in jail. While Adam Klotz survived the attack, the next victim might not.’
New video shows two of the suspects stood side by side after being handcuffed by cops
One of the teens looks at the camera as he is handcuffed by officers by the 18 Street Station
A third teenagers is filmed being escorted into an NYPD van by officers on Sunday morning
A third added: ‘Fox News weatherman Adam Klotz was badly beaten & stomped by 7 or 8 juveniles on an NYC subway train.
‘3 of the suspects were arrested but were released with NO CHARGES because they were juveniles. NY is not safe & nothing is being done about it.’
Another, who lives outside of the city, simply wrote: ‘Thank God I don’t live in NY.’
It comes after Manhattan’s DA Bragg came under fire just last week for offering a plea deal to a man accused of an anti-Semitic attack who said he ‘would do it again’.
Bragg was elected as Manhattan’s DA in November 2021 and led with the soft-on-crime approach of using prison as a last resort.
He campaigned on the promise of criminal justice reform and issued a controversial ‘Day One’ memo after assuming office that said he would only seek prison time in the most severe cases.
That same month Bragg took office, career criminal William Rolon, who faced only misdemeanor charges for threatening a store worker with a knife, was told by a judge that he should ‘feel lucky’ because of Bragg’s new policies.
The DA’s sweeping changes called on prosecutors to ditch felony armed robbery charges and instead charge suspects with petty larceny – a misdemeanor which carries a maximum of one year in prison – even when a weapon is involved if the firearm did not ‘create a genuine risk of physical harm.
But the DA’s office said that this was not a case they had been working on, since it dealt with juveniles.
Fox News weatherman Adam Klotz, 37, was beaten by teenagers on the subway after he says he told them to stop bothering an old man
Other social media users appeared to think the blame lay with mayor Eric Adams.
One wrote: ‘If you live in NYC you are not safe, that is the truth of it. NYC Mayor Adams is just an empty suit.’
Another tweeted Mayor Eric Adams directly, saying: ‘What they did to Adam Klotz is disgusting. It was on your subway.
‘These people set an old man’s hair on fire. When Adam stood up for him they pummeled him. Then can back and attacked him.
‘Three were nabbed. Now they are back on the streets!! Fix this b*******!!’
Twitter users were appalled to discover none of the suspects had been charged
One user labelled Klotz’s attackers ‘creatures’ and condemned the fact they hadn’t spent a night in jail
The suspects are not facing criminal charges as adults due to their age, officers confirmed.
The 17-year-old suspect could have been charged as an adult before the state’s ‘raise the age’ law which was implemented in 2019.
The revised law upped the age a youngster can be charged as an adult from 17 to 18.
None of the boys’ names have been released but new footage shows them being arrested.
In the clip, the suspects are lined up side-by-side while flanked by cops.
All three appear to be wearing handcuffs and looking at the ground.
Another piece of footage shows the teens later being escorted into an NYPD van by cops.
In a statement, the NYPD said: ‘On Sunday, January 22, 2023 at approximately 01.13 hours, the 37-year-old male victim was on board a southbound 1 train approaching the West 18 Street and 7 Avenue station when he observed group of four teenagers acting disorderly on the train.
The beating happened at around 1.15am at 18th Street station by the 1 train
‘The victim asked the individuals to stop, at which point they began to assault the victim, punching him in the face multiple times.
‘When the train arrived at the 18 Street and 7 Avenue station all four individuals and the victim exited the train.’
The statement added that police caught three of the suspects while the fourth fled and they were unable to apprehend him.
‘All were released to guardians with Juvenile reports for assault,’ the NYPD added.
Juveniles found guilty of a crime do not have to undergo the same jail sentences as if they were an adult.
Instead they face lesser punishments which range from: imposing formal or informal probation, enrollment in a special school for juvenile offenders, or commitment to the City’s Juvenile detention center.
But Klotz himself appeared to make light of the incident last night.
He told his 7,000 followers: ‘While the headline I just read ‘viciously beaten by teenagers ‘ is true, it’s doing way more damage to my ego than the physical beating did.’
Klotz made light of the incident on Sunday as he joked the incident had harmed his ego
The 37-year-old weatherman said he didn’t want to go through life ‘angry’ about the attack
And he also insisted he wasn’t angry after one Twitter user expressed surprise he had managed to find humor in the incident.
Klotz, who is originally from Indiana, wrote: ‘Sorry friend. I’m not gonna go thru [sic] life angry. I’mma gonna do the hard thing and find a way to smile and laugh while I’m doing it.’
The weatherman hit headlines yesterday after uploading an Instagram video where he explained he had been attacked.
He told his followers he had been on his way home after watching the New York Giants NFL playoff when he saw the teens bothering the older man.
In the video, he said: ‘Coming home last night from watching the [New York] Giants game at a bar, on the subway, this older gentleman was being hassled by this group of seven or eight teens.
‘I was like, ‘Yo, guys, cut that out.’ And they decided, ‘Alright, he’s not gonna get it, then you’re going to get it.
‘And boy did they give it to me. They had me on the ground, my ribs are all kinds of bruised up too. They got their hits in.’
The old man that Klotz said he was defending was fine and able to get away unscathed, he said.
The attack comes as data shows that subway crime in New York increased by 30 percent between 2021 and 2022.
Adams has suggested that those statistics are merely a reflection of the fact that more people are using it in post-pandemic New York.
In response to the subway’s high crime rate the city has sought to deploy more NYPD officers to man stations. This year the department is spending an additional $20million each month on police overtime, Bloomberg reported.
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