A Fox News guest checked host Lawrence Jones over his “fearmongering” about crime in New York City amid outrage over the killing of an unhoused man on a subway train. (See their exchange below.)
In a Thursday segment on the conservative network, Jones attempted to make the killing of Jordan Neely ― who was choked to death by a Marine veteran on Monday after he had entered a subway car and complained about a lack of food ― about a “crime crisis” in “progressive cities” like New York.
But his guest, University of Maryland senior lecturer Jason Nichols, wasn’t having it.
“We have to make sure that we’re not out here fearmongering and making people afraid and making them afraid to walk the streets or use the subway,” Nichols told the host.
“You are much safer in New York City, which is by the way is the safest big city in the country and the ninth-safest big city in the world, than you are in, say, Bakersfield, California, which is [Republican House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy’s district. ... You are far safer in New York state than you are in Oklahoma, which, by the way, its two largest cities are all run by Republicans ― Tulsa and Oklahoma City.”
New York City has seen a decrease in reported violent crimes in the first three months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, CBS News reported. This drop includes a decrease in shootings, homicides, burglary and rape, the New York Police Department said.
Crime overall in New York City saw a slight uptick in April 2023 compared to April 2022, according to NYPD statistics, while transit crimes dipped by 6.7% this past month.
Nichols’ comments arrived one day after droves of people protested Neely’s on-video killing. The 24-year-old Marine veteran, who has not yet been named publicly by the NYPD, was not immediately charged after being questioned by police, but the medical examiner has since ruled the death a homicide.
Nichols later responded to Jones after he asked whether violent crime across the country was “just a figment of imagination.”
“Lawrence, no it’s not a figment of anyone’s imagination,” Nichols replied. “But here’s the thing: Are we going to go off anecdotes or are we actually going to talk about the work that our law enforcement and others are doing to actually drop crime? And crime is actually going down.”