Bodega Workers Demand Panic Buttons After Fatal Stabbing in Inwood

Calls for Panic Buttons in NYC Bodegas

• 🚨 Advocates are urgently calling for panic buttons to be installed in all New York City bodegas following a fatal stabbing.
• 💡 The renewed demand comes less than 48 hours after a violent incident in an Inwood bodega resulted in three stabbings and one death.
• 💬 The bodega where the incident occurred did not have a panic button, and advocates believe its presence could have made a difference.

Bodega Safety Concerns

• 😨 Bodega workers are experiencing fear and anxiety due to the increasing violence, making it difficult to retain employees.
• 🔪 Surveillance footage captured a deadly knife fight unfolding inside a bodega and spilling onto the sidewalk.

Recent Incidents of Violence

• 📍 The Inwood stabbing occurred on Broadway near West 212th Street on Wednesday afternoon.
• 📈 This incident is one of three deadly violence events within bodegas in the last three days, including a shooting in Williams Bridge and another in the Bronx.

Legislative Action and Association Demands

• 🏛️ The United Bodegas Association is urging legislators to make panic buttons mandatory in all city bodegas, monitored live by NYPD.
• 📊 While 50 panic buttons have been installed in high-need areas, this is a small fraction of the estimated 25,000-30,000 bodegas in the city.
• ✅ The association has successfully used panic buttons in critical hot spots, confirming their effectiveness.