NEW YORK (PIX11) -- The mental health crisis in New York City is taking center stage in Albany as lawmakers work to hammer out a budget compromise amid the escalating emergency.
This week alone in Manhattan, three people were victimized in incidents believed to be tied to mental health issues.
On Tuesday, a man experiencing despair and homelessness — by his own admission — allegedly stole a knife from a seafood store and attacked a shelter security guard nearby on Grand Street.
Jonathan Menu, 19, allegedly sliced her in the neck and arm. Menu later told detectives he didn’t know why he stabbed her but wanted "revenge" against the system, according to prosecutors.
Lawmakers in Albany say they are trying to prevent the next attack, referencing another violent incident earlier this week in SoHo.
Megan "Mae" Berg, a fashion designer for the off-Broadway community, was attacked with a broken bottle to the neck. Prosecutors say the attempted murder left the 25-year-old requiring up to 40 stitches and at one point needing a ventilator to breathe.
The suspect, Muslim Brunson, 46, allegedly shouted spontaneously that he was "going to kill a [expletive]" Monday afternoon.
“For people with 36 mental health hearings, slicing a person with a glass bottle is a failure of New York’s mental health infrastructure and policy,” said Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt.
On Wednesday, Berg's father told PIX11 News, “We thank you for your well wishes and prayers.” A family spokesperson said she is doing better and is now able to speak.
In Albany, Democrats and Republicans are urgently working on a compromise to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed involuntary commitment law tied to the state budget. The legislation aims to remove individuals from the streets who show a danger to themselves or others.
“Someone waving a meat cleaver or machete — there’s not a lot of time to have a Dr. Phil conversation before someone gets hurt who shouldn’t have,” Ortt said.
Before it reaches that point, the plan would have mental health workers and police evaluate individuals and put them on a course of treatment.
“Members want to make sure when people are being discharged, they’re not being discharged back into the circumstance that brought them there,” said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.
A spokesperson for Hochul told PIX11 News that cases like the ones seen this week are part of the reason the governor is committed to seeing this law passed. She's optimistic about a deal getting done "soon."
However, her own party warns this is not a silver bullet. “Does anything we do ensure something like [Berg's attack] won’t ever happen again? I doubt that,” Heastie said. “But you just try to make situations better.”
The $252 billion state budget was due by April 1. Currently, there is still no timetable for a vote to get the governor's agenda, which is tied to it, through.
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