A suspect with an extensive arrest history who allegedly went on an unhinged rampage in a Manhattan neighborhood earlier this year is about to be turned loose back on the streets, amNewYork Metro has learned.
Alarmed residents of Kips Bay say it’s a recipe for disaster — and a story eerily mirroring that of Ramon Rivera, the man who allegedly went on a deadly stabbing spree that killed three New Yorkers last month who had been set free from the criminal justice system despite a lengthy rap sheet.
This time, the concern focuses on a man identified by law enforcement sources as 37-year-old Philip Latimer, who allegedly threatened residents in Kips Bay with a pair of scissors and vandalized a laundromat back in September. After spending the last two months incarcerated, sources familiar with Latimer’s case said the charges against him were dropped after being found mentally unfit to stand trial.
The sources said that Latimer, whose last known address is the Bowery Mission homeless shelter on the Lower East Side, could be released from Rikers Island on or about Dec. 18 after undergoing minimal mental health care.
Police said Latimer allegedly went wild on the evening of Sept. 16 along East 28th Street near 2nd Avenu. He allegedly attempted to threaten a worker at the Bubbles laundromat. The female worker inside told amNewYork Metro that she thought he had a knife.
“He tried to come in with a knife, so I closed and locked the doors,” she recalled. “Then he kicked it.”
The suspect, who was described as having his entire body covered in tattoos kicked the business’s glass doors, sending razor-sharp shards flying.
Another female witness was walking home carrying pizza when she saw the incident unfold.
“I heard him screaming at the glass, yelling, ‘F**king bitch.’ He stared at the glass and then turned around and then donkey-kicked the front door and it completely shattered,” said the witness, who asked not to be identified. “Then he went into the road by the M15 bus stop.”
Witnesses say that Latimer was allegedly seen acting erratic in the street until he heard sirens in the distance and took off; but he wasn’t finished there.
Cops said he fled to the nearby Bellevue Park and allegedly sent those inside running after making threats and acting dangerously.
After about an hour of mayhem, officers finally caught up to Latimer near the corner of 26th Street and 1st Avenue at around 9:40 p.m. on Sept. 16. They slapped the cuffs on him and charged him with three counts each of criminal mischief and menacing.
Law enforcement sources state that Latimer is rather new to the Big Apple but not new to its criminal justice system.
Hailing from Ohio, cops say he was first arrested in New York in May of 2023 and has since racked up 10 arrests in that short time, with some sources stating that number is even greater with sealed arrests.
Prior to his most recent arrest, he was cuffed for an assault in August, possessing burglary tools in July, and bail jumping in March. Sources familiar with Latimer’s history also report that he has a laundry list of arrests out of state in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Despite his history, law enforcement sources said, Latimer will likely go free in the weeks ahead.
A source familiar with the case said Latimer underwent a psychological evaluation and was deemed mentally unfit, leading to the dismissal of charges against him. He is expected to be transported to a mental health care facility on Dec. 18, but will likely only spend a few days under observation before being released, the source said.
This has led to concerns among laundromat workers and other in the community that Latimer will return to cause additional trouble — or even worse actions.
The 36-year-old woman who witnessed the crime says she is scared about the possibility of him returning, believing that he could easily snap and go on a crime spree similar to Rivera, who resided in the Bellevue men’s shelter mere blocks away before allegedly going on the deadly stabbing rampage last month.
“It’s ridiculously scary. You have someone who is not being punished for doing bad things. You are releasing them into the wild. He should be treated,” the witness said. “I never felt uncomfortable where I live until recently.”
