4 subway attacks spark demand for mental health reforms in the city

City officials are demanding mental health reforms across the city after four separate attacks on the A train this weekend.

News 12 Staff

Feb 15, 2021, 3:29 PM

Updated 1,396 days ago

Share:

City officials are demanding mental health reforms across the city after four separate attacks on the A train this weekend.
Two people died in the attacks and two others are recovering from stab wounds. Police arrested 21-year-old Rigoberto Lopez, of Brooklyn, who has had a psychological exam and at least four run-ins with the NYPD in the past.
Officials say there is a pattern that shows perpetrators who commit crimes on subways have experienced some form of mental illness. Officials are demanding that certain city agencies adjust to working on transit stations below ground.
"We should be able to call those mobile crisis units and they should be activated and able to go below ground and do the same work above ground," says Brooklyn Councilmember Robert Cornegy. "Their jurisdiction stops at the subway stairs, that's crazy. We need to have the resources and the manpower to allow them to be able to go below ground."
Police say Lopez is charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.