- Jane Duncan, 52, was taking a walk in the West Village when she claims ‘Matthew’ approached her with a ‘knife’ in hand on February 4.
- As he yelled at her and reached for something shiny, she began coughing and telling him she was on her way to the emergency room for COVID-19.
A 52-year-old New York woman has shared her creative tactic for dealing with muggers roaming the streets, without any violence.
Jane Duncan was taking a walk in the West Village when she claims a man who “had allegedly threatened to stab people several times in recent weeks” approached her with a “knife” in his hand on February 4.
According to Duncan, the man supposedly called Matthew jumped right in front of her and shouted: ‘Why are you harassing me?’
She then allegedly saw him reach for something shiny and shouted: ‘I have Covid.’ Stay away from my. I’m on my way to the emergency room while he pretends to cough around him.
Duncan then said that after she continued coughing, he quickly walked away from her.
Jane Duncan was out for a walk in the West Village when she claims a man who had “allegedly threatened to stab people several times in recent weeks” approached her with a “knife” in his hand on February 4.
According to Duncan, the man supposedly called Matthew jumped right in front of her and shouted: ‘Why are you harassing me?’
In her Facebook post, she described Matthew as: “Runs quickly and screams in people’s faces while pulling out a knife.” He is almost completely bald but has very long black hair on his back.
Later he told the New York Post that the two had never crossed paths before, “which makes her think that it’s not just that he’s violent, but that he’s mentally ill, like he’s hearing voices.”
Duncan said he had been using the COVID defense to protect himself from the growing number of homeless people in his neighborhood for a long time.
‘This used to be a real froufrou area. But I’ve noticed that people are becoming more and more aggressive about begging, to the point where they’ll practically mug you,” the distraught New Yorker said.
Duncan had already filed a police report against Matthew with the NYPD’s 6th District, but did not receive much support.
“They kept asking me, ‘Are you sure it was a knife?'” she recalled.
“I’m not an idiot, I know what a knife looks like,” he told the Post.
Matthew also reportedly told the Post that he was homeless and sleeping on the street.
She soon saw Matthew again on February 9 and called officers. In an updated Nextdoor.com post, Duncan said the officers did not search him for weapons, but instead asked him “how he was doing.”
She soon saw Matthew again on February 9 and called officers. On an updated Nextdoor.com mailDuncan said the officers did not search him for weapons, but instead asked him “how he was doing.”
‘I am a huge advocate for people struggling with mental health issues. I would love to see him receive mental health support, instead of being arrested.
I saw Matthew napping today February 9th. Call the police. Six agents showed up in ten minutes. They were very nice, but they said their hands were tied because he didn’t point a knife at me today.
‘I asked if they could confiscate his gun. They said they were not allowed to search him. So they said if he pulls a knife on me again or uses it on me, I will call 911 again.
‘They spoke briefly to Matthew just to say hello and ask how he was. Then Mateo walked away. Apparently they know him well, like most of the people in this thread,” he wrote on the neighborhood social network.
Suggesting a solution to the problem, Duncan said: ‘What I want is reform. I don’t think arresting him and releasing him is the right thing to do. “I think we need to have a system with mental health care.”
It is unclear if Duncan was arrested by police prior to this incident.