Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and other local electeds and community leaders gathered Monday to show solidarity with the family of a woman violently attacked in her neighborhood for being black at the scene of the crime.
Ann Marie Washington, 57, a Trinidadian-born mother of two, had just gotten off the subway at Church Avenue and East 18th Street on her way home from work Friday night, when the suspect, described as a clean-cut white male in his late 30s or early 40s, punched her in the mouth and stabbed her in the chest with an ice pick or similar sharp object, calling her a “black b…” before fleeing by train.
A witness reported the incident to the NYPD after attempting to stop the altercation, and officers escorted Washington home, but not without mistakenly labelling it a robbery and underestimating Washington’s injuries. Two days later, she was rushed to the hospital after waking up in a puddle of blood. It turned out the assailant had punctured her lung. She remains in the hospital in stable condition.
Adams, a former police officer who patrolled the subway line that includes the Church Avenue Station, explained that in addition to contacting authorities, the witness should have notified the MTA authorities at the station as well. “In an emergency situation, the train would have been held,” he said. Adams proceeded to demand video footage from the eleven possible stations on the line at which the suspect may have gotten off.
Still, Adams made it clear that he was disappointed with the slow pace of the investigation. “The Information shouldn’t have taken so long to get out. Why don’t we have a photo now, or a sketch of this individual?” he asked. “We’ve worked too hard to allow someone to assault someone because of their ethnicity. We want this person apprehended.”
State Sen. Jesse Hamilton (D-Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, South Slope, Sunset Park) called the crime “horrific” and the suspect a “coward.” He also criticized the slow nature of the investigation. “Why did the police not know she had a punctured lung?” Hamilton asked. “Here we are on Monday, and we still do not have a picture of the individual.”
Anthony Beckford, a first responder, community activist, and assembly candidate, expressed horror at the authorities’ handling of the attack. “It could have been your mother or my mother,” he said, especially critical of the initial description of the attack as a robbery. “The only robbery attempt was on her life.”
Rep. Yvette Clarke (Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, Brownsville) agreed, tying the crime to the hateful rhetoric of President Donald Trump. “We’re hearing from Washington an acceptance of hate crimes,” Clarke said. “It’s unfortunate we have to live under constant surveillance as a community, but it’s critical we find the information to get this criminal out of our community.”
State Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington, Windsor Terrace, Park Slope) stated that despite Flatbush’s ethnic diversity, the crime proved the neighborhood is “not immune” to hate. Still, he urged people to not let fear and hatred divide them. “We must stand together in peoplehood,” he said.
