A New York City man who has been arrested 44 times, including 16 times in a single day, has been charged with brutally attacking an aspiring model on a deserted Manhattan subway platform.
Kevin Douglas, 40, of Queens, was arrested on Thursday after police connected him to the attack of Bew Jirajariyawetch, 23, who was waiting for a subway train in Midtown on November 22 when Douglas allegedly beat and robbed her.
Surveillance footage of the incident shows a man said to be Douglas dragging the aspiring model along the northbound platform before throwing her to the ground.
He then holds her down as he punches her in the head four times and snatches her purse, before briskly walking away.
Hours after the assault, police said Douglas barged into a 34-year-old woman's home and punched her in face, the New York Post reported, leading to his arrest that day. He has been in jail since, and was re-arrested on suspicion of the subway attack while being held in custody.
Jirajariyawetch told the Post that she is relieved to get some sense of justice over the arrest.
'Nothing can change what happened to me but I am happy to know he can not do this to someone else,' she said.
Police arrested Kevin Douglas, 40, of Queens, for allegedly beating for allegedly assaulting Bew Jirajariyawetch, 23, at a New York City subway platform back in November
Surveillance footage of the incident shows a man grabbing the aspiring model (left). He then holds her down as he punches her in the head four times and snatches her purse
Bew Jirajariyawetch, 23, revealed her battered face after she was brutally mugged while she waited for the subway at the 34th Street Herald Square subway platform on November 22
Her attorney, Eric Parnes, called the arrest inspiring after his client waited three months to see someone arrest for the brutal attack.
'Although this took an incredible amount of pressure and time to lead to an arrest, it does show that when the police and prosecutors are allowed to do their job without illogical restraints people can have some sense of hope that things can be better,' Parnes told the Post.
Police said Douglas has 44 prior arrests and faced charges for drugs, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, robbery and criminal tampering dating back to 1997, the Post reported.
On May 13, 2019, he was arrested 16 times.
New York Police officials have yet to make Douglas's full rap sheet available. They have also not said whether or not he was out on bail for a previous arrest when he attacked Jirajariyawetch.
He was arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday with bail set at $75,000.
Douglas is currently in police custody, and his next court date is set for April 11.
Jirajariyawetch said she was glad to learn that a suspect had been arrest over he assault
Police said that hours after brutally beating Jirajariyawetch, Douglas allegedly attacked another woman, 34, after barging into her home
Violent crime in general has surged in the city over the past year, with many different factors including increased tensions between the police and public, unemployment rates, soft-on-crime politicians and bail reform being cited as potential causes.
According to the recently released crime data - which takes into account offenses occurring up until the week ending on February 6 - robberies have soared by almost 35 percent when compared to the same period in 2021.
Rape has also increased by more than 35 percent and overall crime in the Big Apple has skyrocketed by 41.65 percent, according to the data.
Murders, meanwhile, are down 13 percent at this time over last year, while shootings have increased by a startling 30 percent.
This incident comes as crime continues to surge in NYC with a 19.4 percent increase in robberies reported
Nearly every single police precinct in New York City has seen spikes in crime so far this year - including five in which the rate has doubled, new data from the NYPD shows
Police are holding newly elected Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg (pictured) accountable for Hall's most recent assault
Earlier this week, another criminal with a lengthy rap sheet who had charges downgraded under woke DA Alvin Bragg was arrested again for sucker-punching a New York City sanitation worker on the job.
Christian Hall, 30, of Uniondale, Long Island, allegedly snuck up on a 55-year-old sanitation worker as he was collecting trash outside a Manhattan building on Wednesday morning and hit him in the head without warning, causing pain and swelling, the New York Post reported.
Hall was arrested at the scene and taken into custody.
He was arraigned on Thursday where a judge set his bail for $25,000.
He was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, under a provision of state law that enhances the penalty for attacking certain public employees, as well as menacing and harassment, the Post reported.
Police are holding newly elected Manhattan DA Bragg accountable for the assault after his office was accused of 'intentionally omit(ing) all facts' from court documents for a previous violent theft at a TJ Maxx in Chelsea in January, with an 'assault and robbery recidivist' ending up with a mere shoplifting charge.
Bragg's office is accused of meddling in the 30-year-old's court papers. It's unclear why the DA's office downgraded the charges.
Hall has been arrested 21 times with nine open cases, including robbery with a deadly weapon and assault, the Post reported.
A memo obtained by the Post says that a few days prior to the TJ Maxx incident in January, Hall also robbed a Manhattan Fairway Market.
In that incident, Hall allegedly tried to steal items and when confronted by a security guard, shears fell out of his coat, the Post reported.
Police sources described Hall as a 'felony assault recidivist, robbery recidivist and transit offender.'
According to the Manhattan's District Attorney's office, Hall has 19 open cases, 10 open warrants and 14 failure to appear in court.
One of Hall's open cases is from November 2021, where he was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly entering a building in Manhattan and slamming a victim on the ground, dragging him across the floor and approaching a second victim while brandishing a knife and threatening to stab them, the DA's office said in a criminal complaint provided to DailyMail.com.
In another pending case from a December 2021 incident, Hall was charged with robbery after entering a Manhattan Starbucks. stealing beverages and then displaying a sharp object toward an employee when confronted for not paying, the DA's office said.
Hall also has a pending case from a December 12 arrest for robbery and forcible theft with a deadly weapon in Sunset Park.
'DA Bragg owns this attack,' a Manhattan cop told the Post.
'You have a city worker, in uniform, doing his job, providing a service to the community and he is attacked by a man that should be in jail,' the officer added.
DailyMail.com reached out to the DA's office and NYPD for more information on Hall's criminal history and why his charge after the violent theft at TJ Maxx was downgraded.
Bragg has been previously been publicly slammed by the NYPD's first black female Commissioner Keechant Sewell for his woke policy of downgrading burglary, armed robbery and drug dealing crimes.
Bragg's decision not to impose 'carceral punishments' and downgrading felonies has been criticized as New York City's crime rate soars.
New NYPD data shows that nearly every police precinct in New York City has seen spikes in crime this year - including five in which the rate has doubled.
'No neighborhood is safe,' one Brooklyn cop told The New York Post on Tuesday, offering a grim forecast for the future of the crime-ravaged city.
'At this rate, we will lose the city by St. Patrick's Day.'
According to recently released statistics, 72 of the five boroughs' 77 precincts saw an increase in crime this year when compared to the same period in 2021, with only three recording a marginal decrease in criminal offenses.
Two precincts, including the one covering the city's scenic Central Park, recorded no change at all - a statistic that may be misleading due to the area's low crime rate when compared to areas that are actually populated.
'Only the squirrels are safe,' another anonymous cop joked to The Post Tuesday. 'Tourists will never come back.'
Since Mayor Eric Adams unveiled his 'Blueprint to End Gun Violence' on January 24, at least 49 people have been shot in The City That Never Sleeps, and at least 12 have been murdered.
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