Terminal ill saves him from jail
Subway stabber, 20, has incurable cancer
A Harlem man who stabbed an MTA conductor in a Bronx subway station will not see the inside of a prison cell because he has terminal cancer.
Walter Rivera pleaded guilty in Bronx Criminal Court Friday to assaulting Denaul Jenkins, 33, as he sat in uniform, on a platform waiting for a southbound No. 6 train at the 149th St.-Grand Concourse station in Mott Haven on Easter Sunday.
Jenkins, a transit worker for five years, managed to pin Rivera. 20, to the ground after being punched and stabbed and held him captive until cops arrived.
Rivera, 20, was charged with attempted murder, but his failing health led to his prison-free deal.
“Back in 2018, unfortunately the defendant Walter Rivera Jr. was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia,” Assistant District Attorney Daniel Defilippi explained. “By April 2019, prior to the events that brought us all here today, Mr. Rivera’s cancer returned,” Defilippi said.
Rivera, prosecutors said, went through chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and a stem cell transplant last year, but nothing healed him.
After the attack, Rivera’s older brother told the Daily News that he thought his sibling was acting irrationally because of medicine he took for his leukemia.
Judge George Villegas asked Jenkins if he was comfortable with the deal offered to his attacker, the conductor nodded yes from the gallery.
“I understand he has a situation of terminal cancer,” Jenkins said outside the courtroom. “He could possibly die in a few months, so it definitely was a tough call on my part. The important thing is that, if he’s gonna be released to medical care and psychiatric care, I hope he does get better.”
As part of his plea, Rivera has to keep out of trouble, get mental health treatment and update the court on his condition. He is banned from using the MTA — unless he has a doctor appointment.
A number of Transport Workers Union Local 100 officials and Jenkins’ MTA coworkers attended the hearing in a show of solidarity.
“This is an honorable man,” said the union’s vice president Eric Loegel. “Brother Jenkins is much more merciful than a lot of us would be.”