Beloved Poet, Activist Stabbed to Death in Random Street Attack

A 32-year-old environmental activist and poet was stabbed to death on a New York street early Monday morning while his girlfriend watched.

Ryan Carson and his girlfriend were returning from a wedding on Long Island at about 4 a.m., The New York Post reports. Surveillance footage obtained by the Post shows the couple sitting on a bus stop bench in Bedford-Stuyvesant before they get up and begin walking down the street.

Ahead of them, a man begins kicking scooters on the curb, then turns and shouts at Carson, “What the f*** are you looking at?”

Carson steps between the man and his girlfriend as the man charges. He yells, “I’ll kill you!” and Carson puts up a hand to stop him, urging the man to “Chill.”

But the man suddenly pulls out a knife and attacks Carson, who stumbles over the bench he and his girlfriend had been sitting on. The attacker grabs his jacket and stabs him multiple times in the chest. The attacker walks away, but turns back toward Carson’s girlfriend. He spits on her and kicks Carson before storming away.

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Another woman arrived on the scene and called 911. Carson’s girlfriend stayed with him until medics arrived and rushed him to a hospital, but he could not be saved.

Carson was a senior solid waste campaign manager at the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), according to LinkedIn. The group issued a statement saying he was “a beloved staffer, colleague, and friend.”

“His engaging personality, hearty laugh and wide-ranging intelligence were keys to his success in advancing the causes he deeply cared about in his work and personal life,” the organization said. “Ryan was a consummate team player who would happily undertake the basic ‘blocking and tackling’ tasks necessary to advance and win on an issue, but also shined in the spotlight as a leader, campaign manager and spokesperson.”

Police told the Post that no arrests have been made.