A violent and terrifying assault that could have ended in a fatality concluded Monday with a prison sentence of five years and 10 months for the attacker.
Joseph Naes was convicted after using a slingshot to fire a 6-inch-long steel dart at another man waiting on the East 162nd Avenue light rail platform on June 17, 2024, according to court documents.
The attack was not random. A probable cause affidavit filed in the case revealed that Naes recognized the victim from a previous interaction the week before on the very same platform. The dart—a dangerous projectile—turned a simple public transit dispute into an act of attempted severe violence.
Thankfully, the victim survived the shocking assault. Naes’s sentence holds him accountable for the potentially lethal escalation, removing a dangerous individual from the streets for more than five years.