A New York City woman who lost her eye in a violent subway attack spoke out against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's claims Mayor Eric Adams is "defunding safety" by increasing NYPD wages, reiterating the need for police officers as violence plagues the city.
Elizabeth Gomes, who was horrifically attacked by a career criminal in September, reacted to AOC's calls to invest the money in public schools, pools, parks and libraries instead.
"It's because of lack of safety, lack of not having the right people there around us to take care of us when we need them," Gomes said of the city's crime during "Fox & Friends" Thursday. "At that moment when I was running up the train station, I wasn't thinking about calling up a teacher or calling a lifeguard for a pool. I was thinking about calling the police."
Gomes was brutally attacked by a homeless man in a Queens subway station, 41-year-old Waheed Foster, on September 20. He was indicted for the attack, which was caught on surveillance video.
AOC, who has long been an advocate of the "defund the police" movement, garnered sharp criticism this week over an anti-police rant on "The Daily Show" where she slammed Adams' decision to give "militarized" officers a raise at a time when the city is battling law enforcement staffing shortages.
"We are now at a point where officially, most officers, are paid more than a teacher with a master's degree when we are taking all of those resources and demanding that every single department except the militarized one be cut," Ocasio-Cortez said Monday. "We are sending a message about who and what we care about."
Gomes said additional funding should be allocated to both teachers and officers, but prioritizing public safety should be at the forefront.
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"We need both, but safety do[es] come first," Gomes said. "If you don't make these children safe in school, how would you make them want to go to school? Once anybody feels in danger in any kind of way, they wouldn't want to go. You want to fix all these community places like pools and parks? But how would people want to go if there's no safety? I believe safety come[s] with police officers."
"Once you put safety first, everything else will go right after it," she continued. "I cannot call a teacher if I need help. If a man is running me down, I cannot call a teacher. I'm going to have to call the police. I'm going to be praying for police, not a teacher."
The New York City subway system has developed a reputation as a dangerous hellscape where headline-making incidents occur on a regular basis, but The New York Post recently reported that crime is actually down compared to last year.
"Major crime on the trains was down 21.5% year to date compared to the same period in 2022," the Post reported in March. "All serious felonies — other than burglary — decreased."
Even so, several high-profile attacks have taken place on the subway in recent months, including the brutal assault of Fox News meteorologist Adam Klotz and award-winning PBS News reporter Jane Ferguson.
Gomes argued her attacker shouldn't have even been out of jail in the first place, noting an extensive rap sheet that should have held him behind bars for a "long time."
"He was a convicted felon. He was in jail multiple times," Gomes said. "He killed his foster grandmother at 14… this guy was supposed to be locked up a long time. He shouldn't even have been walking the street at all with all the felons and cases he had behind him."
"The only thing I was really thinking about, honestly was just somebody helping me," she continued.
Gomes said she hasn't ridden the subway since the attack, and has no plans to do so anytime soon.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
