Two cops heard the desperate screams of the Chinatown woman who was stalked by a homeless stranger and murdered in her apartment — and even spoke to her killer through the door — but failed to help, the victim’s family claims in a lawsuit.
Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was attacked by an assailant who snuck in behind her as she entered her Chrystie Street building around 4:20 a.m. on Feb. 13, 2022.
Neighbors heard her cries for help “for at least five minutes” as she was being viciously butchered, and dialed 911.
Two unidentified officers from the 5th Precinct, about three blocks away, responded to the 911 calls in four minutes “and heard Ms. Lee screaming for help,” according to the Manhattan Supreme Court filing against the city and the cops.
They “failed to gain entry to Ms. Lee’s apartment until Ms. Lee had been stabbed more than 40 times by her attacker and succumbed to her injuries,” her aunt, Boksun Lee, said in the court filing.
They even spoke to her alleged killer “through the closed door of Ms. Lee’s apartment,” the suit alleges.
“Despite having reason to believe Ms. Lee’s life was in imminent danger, [the officers] failed to gain entry to Ms. Lee’s apartment or otherwise provide her with any potentially life-saving police or medical assistance at that time,” according to the litigation, which seeks unspecified damages.
It took additional officers more than an hour to arrive, and the Emergency Services Unit cops finally forced open the apartment door.
Lee’s body was found inside and Assamad Nash, 25, whose long rap sheet included robbery and petty larceny, was found hiding under a mattress.
He was charged with murder.
“Ms. Lee’s death was caused by the wrongful acts of the defendants,” her family alleges in the litigation, which was first reported by the Daily Beast.
The NYPD declined comment on the litigation.
