A New York City woman recorded the scary moment a homeless man followed her through Union Square Park, threatening to ‘knock her out’ and ‘slit her throat.’
The woman, who goes by @shamsiaaaa on TikTok, said that the man was making her uncomfortable by staring at her while she sat on a bench.
When he stood up, she felt ‘paranoid’ and got up to leave, walking away briskly — before noticing that he was following behind her.
As she began recording for ‘evidence,’ the man can be heard speaking behind her, calling her a ‘b****’ and threatening to ‘knock her f***ing teeth out.’
A New York City woman recorded the scary moment a homeless man followed her through Union Square Park, threatening to ‘knock her out’ and ‘slit her throat’
The woman said that the man was making her uncomfortable by staring at her while she sat on a bench. When he stood up, she walked away – and he followed
The woman recorded the video in Union Square in Manhattan a week ago.
‘I don’t feel safe because this grown man keeps following me and I got you on camera that you keep following me and if you do something…’ @shamsiaaaa says at the beginning of the video as she films a close-up of her face.
Behind her, a man in dark clothes with a bag, a hat, and a styrofoam container of food is keeping pace, several feet away.
The woman gets silent, allowing her phone to capture what the man is saying as he speeds up and gets closer.
‘B****, I’ll knock you out. B****, I’ll knock you out,’ he says.
‘How about that? B****, I’ll knock your f***ing teeth out. B****, I’ll knock your f***ing teeth out. I’ll slit your f***ing throat. How about that?’
‘He also said, “I’mma put a bullet through you,” and he repeated that he’s gonna slit my throat,’ she said. ‘I was so scared’
In a follow-up video, woman said she had sat down in the park because the sun was nice.
‘I just wanted to meditate ’cause I had music playing,’ she said.
‘Then he was sitting across from me. And you know when someone is staring at you, you feel it. I was on my phone, scrolling, and each time I look up, he’s looking at me,’ she said.
‘Then he goes, “Ma’am, are you OK?” I was like, “Who, me? Yeah, I’m OK.”
‘I continued going on my phone, and each time I looked up, he was still staring at me. I was paranoid,’ she added, explaining that she started praying to herself in that moment.
‘When he got up, something told me to get up, start walking, and don’t look back,’ she said.
‘I got up, I started walking, and I look back and I saw him following me. Then he comes to stand in front of me. So I move to the right, he moves to the right. I move to the left, he moves to the left.’
‘You know when someone is staring at you, you feel it. I was on my phone, scrolling, and each time I look up, he’s looking at me,’ she said
She started recording for ‘evidence,’ but said her video ended abruptly due to a spam caller
At that point, she started recording for ‘evidence,’ but said her video ended abruptly due to a spam caller.
‘He also said, “I’mma put a bullet through you,” and he repeated that he’s gonna slit my throat,’ she said. ‘I was so scared.’
The woman said that the man eventually stopped following her but was ‘still blabbing his mouth’ even as he went off in a different direction.
She also said that she didn’t know that the was homeless until TikTok commenters said they recognized him as a homeless man who is frequently seen around Union Square, the East Village, and Washington Square Park.
Commenters were also horrified on her behalf.
‘How scary that we live in a world where women and young girls can’t even feel safe walking down the street in broad daylight,’ said one.
‘That’s why I always walked with my “safety items” in NYC,’ said another. ‘NY women are built different because this is what we might deal with on any given day/night.’
‘So many unstable people out in these streets. Glad you got away safe,’ said a third.
The video comes amid fears of rising crime in New York City. The NYPD reports that seven ‘major crimes’ are up 37.66% year to date
Several recommended that she carry pepper spray and advised her to call the police.
The video comes amid fears of rising crime in New York City.
According to the newest statistics released by the NYPD this week, the seven ‘major crimes’ tracked by the NYPD — murder, rape, robbery, burglary, felony assault, grand larceny, and grand larceny of a vehicle — are up 37.66% year to date.
The NYPD data reports a 26.5% increase in rape, a 32.9% increase in robbery, an 11.5% increase in felony assault, a 6.2% increase in burglary, a 56.6% increase in grand larceny, and a 92.5% increase in grand larceny of a vehicle.
However, it also shows an 18.8% decrease in murder over the past year.
The crime rate has been slowly rising in recent years, with 100,000 incidents reported in 2021 — the most since 2016, according to The City.
The number of murders in New York City has increased overall since 2018, bucking a downward trend that had begun in 2011 — with 479 homicides recorded in 2021.
Overall, there were 102,741 major crimes reported in 2021, compared to 162,064 in 2001, 212,913 in 1998, 430,460 in 1993, and 527,257 in 1990
The murder rate had been dropping through the first years of former mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, starting at 515 in his 2011 and dropping to 419 in 2012 before reaching a low of 292 murders in 2017.
The rising number is still a massive improvement from the early ’90s, when there were about 2,000 murders every year.
New York’s rising homicide rate — 5.5 killings per 100,000 people in 2021 — is also still lower than the next six most populous cities: Los Angeles; Chicago; Houston; Phoenix, Arizona; and Philadelphia.
It is also lower than several smaller cities like Jacksonville, Florida and Fort Worth, Texas.
In November, the NYPD touted an 11% decrease in the overall crime index since 2013, and a 46% since 2000.
Overall, there were 102,741 major crimes reported in 2021, compared to 162,064 in 2001, 212,913 in 1998, 430,460 in 1993, and 527,257 in 1990.
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