{"id":376425,"date":"2026-10-18T21:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T21:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376425\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T21:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T21:18:11","slug":"saritha-komatireddy-slams-ag-letitia-james-over-nyc-transit-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376425\/","title":{"rendered":"Saritha Komatireddy slams AG Letitia James over NYC transit ‘chaos’"},"content":{"rendered":"

State Attorney General Letitia James\u2019 GOP challenger Sunday accused her of allowing \u201cchaos in the subways\u201d to thrive, after a fatal shooting at a crowded Midtown station sent tourists fleeing<\/a> the day before.<\/p>\n

Former federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy told reporters at the Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street station, where Saturday\u2019s bloodshed broke out, that the Dem\u2019s soft-on-crime and alleged anti-cop stance has allowed transit violence in the Big Apple to buck the trend that has seen most violent city crimes plummet to historic lows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why so many families, hard-working New Yorkers and even tourists don\u2019t feel safe<\/a> coming into New York and using the subways,\u201d Komatireddy said. \u201cUnder Letitia James, felony assaults in the transit systems have gone up 94%. That means they\u2019ve doubled.<\/p>\n

GOP state Attorney General candidate Saritha Komatireddy holds a news conference Sunday outside a Midtown subway station marred by recent violence. Kevin Sheehan for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is for one simple reason: James has chosen to investigate the cops who police the subways instead of investigating the violent criminals who create chaos in the subways,\u201d she said. \u201cShe actually calls that progress. I call it failure. It\u2019s not progress, it\u2019s failure and we need to treat it as such. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is right now in New York subways, we have chaos in the trains.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fatal weekend shooting took place around 12:20 p.m. when the victim got into an argument with the gunman, according to police.<\/p>\n

The Midtown station was packed with tourists when the shooter opened fire, striking the unidentified victim and fleeing the station, leaving the man mortally wounded on the northbound platform, police said.<\/p>\n

Dem New York Attorney General Letitia James is under fire for her alleged anti-cop stance. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

A person was shot in the Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street subway station in Midtown on Saturday. Sofia Poznansky for NY Post<\/p>\n

Law-enforcement sources have told The Post that the shooting was a targeted attack and that there was \u201cnothing random between these two individuals,\u201d although further details have not been released.<\/p>\n

Komatireddy claimed that James\u2019 has been too quiet about city transit crime and has instead zealously launched probes of the NYPD, including a 2021 lawsuit alleging excessive force<\/a> at Black Lives Matter protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs attorney general, I will launch a sweeping transit-crime crackdown,\u201d Komatireddy said. \u201cWe will start a transit-crime strike force in the attorney general\u2019s office. We will ensure that the transit crimes are enforced. And we will remove repeat and violent offenders from the trains and buses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Komatireddy is taking her political foe to task over crime. Steve Sanchez\/Sipa USA<\/p>\n

A rep for James\u2019 re-election campaign said in a statement Sunday that the attorney general has done plenty to fight crime in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York Attorney General Letitia James has protected New Yorkers by taking nearly 10,000 guns off the streets and dismantling gun and drug rings while her opponent plays politics,\u201d the statement said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year-to-year uptick in city transit murders from January to mid-October mars an otherwise stellar showing by New York\u2019s Finest that has seen murders and shootings in the five boroughs dip so far this year, stats released earlier this month show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But overall subway crimes, including assault and thefts, edged up slightly by 0.9%, to 1,628 reported incidents through Oct. 6 this year compared to 1,613 last year over the same span last year.<\/p>\n

Through Oct. 11, the latest NYPD stats available, murders citywide were down nearly 20% over last year, but overall transit crime had edged up by 1.6% compared to the same time last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State Attorney General Letitia James\u2019 GOP challenger Sunday accused her of allowing \u201cchaos in the subways\u201d to thrive,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[393,303,416,398,57,9,11,10,103,1687,58],"class_list":["post-376425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-attorney-general","tag-crime","tag-elections","tag-letitia-james","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nypd","tag-subways","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}