In response to Thursday’s subway shooting, Mayor Eric Adams offered an instant diagnosis of what sparked the conflict. “When I looked at this tape and broke it down piece by piece and frame by frame, it is clear that it personifies what our pursuit is involved around those with severe mental health illnesses,” Adams told NY1. 

Video of the incident does not show that Dajuan Robinson, the initial aggressor who then got shot with his own gun, matches the target of the Adams administration’s approach to people experiencing mental-health crises, however.  

As Adams announced in late 2022, the focus would be on removing people viewed to be experiencing “delusional misapprehension of their surroundings or their own health.” This was commonly understood to refer to homeless people on the subway who appear to be unaware of their physical condition.

Nothing about Robinson’s appearance placed him in that category. Whether his aggressive demeanor amounted to “severe mental-health illness” is not for the mayor to determine. 

In 2021, the year Adams was elected, there was significant public attention focused on the need to address widespread mental-health issues that had only grown worse during the pandemic. Many activists who backed the call to “Defund the police” supported the reallocation of resources to fund various social programs. Organizations including VOCAL-NY sharply criticized mayoral candidate Eric Adams for pushing carceral strategies instead of investing in mental health initiatives.  

Adams, a former police captain, opposed the movement to defund the police, pitching himself as both a supporter and a reformer of the NYPD. Three years later, it’s clear that Adams is a knee-jerk backer of the NYPD, who has done nothing meaningful in terms of reining in the department’s overzealous tactics. 

There is evidence that even amid the pandemic crime spike (that propelled Adams’ rise), the activists’ positions gained traction among Democratic voters. In mid-May 2021, a poll commissioned by the right-wing City Journal found that 47% of city Democrats agreed with the proposal to “defund the NYPD and spend that money on social workers instead.” 

Notably, the poll was taken one week after a high-profile shooting incident in Times Square. Adams’ response was to host media events on consecutive days at the crime scene. Fellow candidates Maya Wiley and Dianne Morales called for community investments. 

During Bill de Blasio’s administration, there was a sizable allocation of funding for mental health initiatives. While ThriveNYC — overseen by Chirlane McCray, de Blasio’s wife — received close to $1 billion in funding, it’s unclear how all the money was spent or whether any programs were successful. 

Shortly after announcing his initiative to remove people from the subways, Adams cut funding for B-HEARD, a program rolled out in 2021 that brings social workers and EMTS — not cops — to help people experiencing a mental-health emergency. In March 2023 Adams restored funding, but it would be a stretch to say that these issues have been front and center on the mayor’s agenda.

It’s not clear how the remedy Adams proposed in response to the subway shooting — which would involve Albany allowing the city to “involuntarily remove” people experiencing “severe mental illness” — applies to people like Dajuan Robinson. According to his estranged wife, Robinson had no officially diagnosed psychiatric condition, although he was known to get angry after drinking alcohol. 

Many people who ride the subway late at night or on the weekends might fit into that category. Involuntary removals may be yet another carceral solution to an enduring problem — but that’s how the mayor rolls.

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