PENN LESSON
GOV. CUOMO said Saturday the commotion caused by a Tasering in Penn Station is further proof that first responders need to be trained in dealing with a panicked public.
“The first responders have to be trained not to panic and they have to be trained how to now handle a public that is very antsy,” Cuomo told reporters at the Governor’s Mansion in Albany where he hosted an Easter egg roll. “Just having people running to an exit … can cause a problem.”
Officials said 16 commuters suffered minor injuries when all hell broke loose at the transit hub about 6:30 p.m. Friday.
When Amtrak police subdued a man with a stungun, travelers feared a shooting had taken place, causing pandemonium as they scrambled for safety.
The havoc followed a harrowingly long afternoon for more than 1,000 passengers who had just arrived at Penn after being trapped on a New Jersey Transit train for nearly three hours.
“It’s a totally new world we live in,” Cuomo said. “It’s a world where terrorism is a real possibility. We all know that. But at the same time we now have to correct for the anxiety and the apprehension because people can get hurt by just the panic and the overreaction.”
Friday’s scare even spread across 34th St. as shoppers streamed out of Macy’s flagship Herald Square store. An Amtrak police spokesman confirmed Saturday that the man Tasered remained in custody but would not disclose his name or if he had been criminally charged.
The governor likened the Penn Station mayhem to the mass panic at Kennedy Airport following an erroneous report of shots fired on Aug. 14.
“If you’re standing at an airport and you see people in uniform running past you in an obvious state of panic, that really creates panic,” said Cuomo, who added he has brought New York state troopers into the city to conduct “specialized training at Penn Station, the large airports (and) Grand Central Terminal.”
The Daily News exclusively reported Wednesday that Port Authority Police and state troopers have been butting heads at JFK and LaGuardia Airports as they patrol the same areas and try to find ways to work together.