NYC nurses attacked repeatedly by illegal immigrant suspect in ER: 'Soft-on-crime laws aren't helping'

A New York City nurse sounded the alarm on the Big Apple's "soft-on-crime" policies and the surge at the southern border after she was brutally assaulted by a migrant who entered the United States illegally.

Chelsea Mora was reportedly attacked by Edward Johnson, a repeat offender, in January at Jacobi Medical Center. Mora said when she went to take Johnson's vitals he hit her in the face, giving her a corneal hematoma and PTSD from the assault. 

"It's difficult, to say the least… we wake up every morning or night, we work 12 hours to 16-hour shifts to help people help the most vulnerable in our society, help our sick patients in underserved communities, and we get abused," Mora told Todd Piro on Monday. "And these things just fall under the guise of mental health disorders, and they're kind of ignored."

"These people need to be institutionalized if, in fact, they are mentally disabled, not back on the streets," she continued. 

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NYC nurse Chelsea Mora, who was allegedly assaulted by a migrant in January, said she suffered a corneal hematoma and PTSD from the attack.

According to ABC7, Johnson was arrested on assault charges but was given supervised release and is no longer behind bars. 

He was reportedly arrested 23 times and has a history of assaults. He is accused of attacking medical personnel dating back to 2019, including an ER doctor in 2022, and also has a psychiatric history.

"It seems to be a severe problem in New York City now," Mora said. "I think these soft-on-crime laws that are being implemented aren't helping us, like citizens of New York, [and] aren't helping healthcare staff in dealing with these types of criminals."

"This one particular gentleman has over 20 open cases, and he's out on the streets abusing and assaulting people," she continued. 

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Mora said the border crisis is partially to blame for the assault as New York City, in particular, battles an influx of illegal immigrants. 

"[A] certain percentage definitely should be blamed on the border crisis," Mora said. "I had no idea this particular patient's migration status, but, it was pretty disheartening to find out that he was illegally here in this country and that he's been... given so many chances."

Mora said medical personnel are often discouraged from pressing charges in similar situations, and even when they do, the suspected criminals are usually back on the street shortly thereafter. 

"I think there's an internal push. I'm not sure what the agenda is, but usually when one of us does get assaulted, whether there's a doctor or a nurse, we're kind of discouraged to not press charges," Mora said. "When we actually do press charges and things go up to the court level... charges are dropped, and these criminals are back on the street."

"They may [serve] 1 or 2 months in jail, and then they're back out doing the same thing, so it seems to be a reoccurring theme," she continued. 

A spokeswoman for Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark told The New York Post last week that Johnson's case is being presented to a grand jury to secure an indictment.

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