New York Mayor calls 911 after witnessing assault on first day of work

Eric Adams started his brand new job as New York City Mayor today, and as he awaited the subway, he witnessed an assault and reported it to 911.

"Yes, I'm at Broadway and Kosciusko," the new mayor says waiting for the J train, "And I have an assault in progress, 3 males." At the end of the call, he identified himself as "Adams, Mayor Adams," according to the New York Post.

As reporters were gathered around on the elevated Brooklyn train platform, Adams called into 911 on his iPhone. The camera pans through the window to the street below, where a sidewalk assault is in progress.

"The joy of doing this is you’re carrying out an observation. If it's happening on the J line it’s happening on the 4 line, it’s happening on the 5 line, the B line. So we have to think, 'What are we doing proactively?' " Adams said.

"I feel safe in my city," he said.

Adams told reporters that "This is not my first day, 'So let me do, you know, some photo op.' No. This how I flow. I’m a Metro card holder." Billionaire and former mayor Michael Bloomberg also took the subway to often.

The Mayor and reporters could see two squad cars arrive at the site of the assault, but they pilled away without questioning the men, who were no longer fighting but appeared to be leaving the scene.

Adams said that he would address this with officers at the 103rd precinct, in Jamaica, Queens, who he was intending to speak with later in the day. He said this would be a "teachable moment."

Adams encountered a belligerent drunk man on the subway who was shouting and asking the new mayor if he needed to show his ID. Another person was asleep on the bench of the subway car.

"These are real things that you see," Adams said.

Many New Yorkers have hope that Adams may give the city the kind of boost in addressing crime, homelessness, and quality of life issues that Mayor Bill de Blasio's policies exacerbated. But in terms of COVID restrictions, it does not seem hat Adams will provide any relief.

Adams has said he would keep the vaccine mandates in place that are troubling to so many New Yorkers in a city with an over 70 percent vaccination rate that still has one of the highest COVID case counts in the country. He's committed to keeping schools open, as well. Yonkers, just to the north of New York City, has closed schools preemptively for two weeks.

Adams has also said that vaccine mandates could be expanded, that face masks could be distributed, and that a color-coded case tracking system could be implemented to assess viral threat level, along with use of rapid tests.

Adams was sworn in right after the ball dropped in Times Square overnight. "This is an unbelievable city and, trust me, we’re ready for a major comeback because this is New York," he said, according to Fox News.