‘Wild Man’ Terrorizes N.Y.’s Upper Westside

They call him the “Wild Man,” and he’s been terrorizing the Upper West Side for seven years.

Larry Hogue, a 52-year-old homeless crack addict, roams the streets with an assortment of weapons--a machete, a screwdriver, an ice pick--and police say he has a penchant for chasing women with small dogs and pushing pedestrians into traffic.

He’s been arrested or sent to mental hospitals at least 37 times since 1985, but always ends up back on the streets of this neighborhood, a mix of affluent high-rise apartments and rough tenements.

Authorities say Hogue is a chilling example of how dangerous, mentally ill people can slip through the cracks of the criminal and mental health systems.

Hogue has a long history of crack addiction and mental illness, police say. But a person cannot be committed to a mental hospital involuntarily unless at least two doctors agree he is an immediate danger to himself or others.

And he can only be held by the legal system when he commits a serious infraction and is tried and convicted.

“Unless they have a court order, we can’t keep them long,” said Martha Reyes, administrative coordinator at St. Luke’s Hospital, where Hogue has often been taken. “We can’t force them to stay. Our hands are tied, too.”

Helen DePaz, a psychiatric nurse at St. Luke’s, has watched Hogue come through several times. “He takes his medicine and then he’s nice,” she said.

Hogue was released from Riker’s Island just recently after a three-month stint for vandalism. He’s already been picked up twice, once for chasing someone with a knife. The following Sunday, he was sent to Bellevue Hospital after he scratched a car with a knife, police said.

Rattled neighbors can be forgiven for doubting he would be there long.

“Everyone on the street is terrified,” said Lisa Lehr, 54, a community activist and auxiliary police officer. “We’re so afraid that when we see him, we flee indoors. He goes after women, children and small pets.”

Sunday was a warm, sunny day with thousands of people strolling the Upper West Side. Before the vandalism incident, Hogue was one of them, walking into traffic and pulling his pants down, sometimes approaching people, trying to open car doors.

Hulking and powerfully built, he cuts a frightening figure as he ambles barefoot down the street, waving his arms as he wades into traffic.

When stopped for an interview by a reporter, Hogue was both friendly and hostile. He appeared disoriented.

“I’m a very angry guy,” he said, dipping a cherry Popsicle into a cup of take-out chowder and then eating it.

Hogue said he likes smoking crack but added that “I need food and $5 a day to live.”

Asked how old he is, Hogue said, “Old enough to kill. I’ll kill anybody for money. If you want someone bumped off, let me know.” He said he grew up in Westport, Conn., but authorities believe he’s from New Jersey.

Lehr said residents fear that Hogue really will kill someone, recalling Kevin McKiever, a 30-year-old transient accused of stabbing a woman to death as she walked her dog on West 69th Street in June, 1991.

Luis Gomez often sees Hogue walk into the middle of 96th Street, pull down his pants and sit down as cars race by. Hogue frequently urinates and defecates on the sidewalk, Gomez said.

“It’s real scary,” said Gomez, wheeling his 9-month-old son, Nicholas, in a stroller down 96th Street.

Hogue was arrested and charged with attempted murder in 1988 for pushing a girl in front of a moving bus. She escaped unhurt. Hogue plea-bargained down to a misdemeanor and served nearly a year in prison, police said.

“We’ve done everything we can but unfortunately he’s protected by mental health laws,” said Officer Heidi Higgins, who has worked on Hogue’s case.

In February, Lehr said she and other residents were bused by police to Manhattan State Hospital on Ward’s Island for a conference about Hogue. Lehr said the hospital staff had a 3-inch-thick file on Hogue.

“We’re pretty nice, liberal people,” Lehr said. “We’re decent people. But we call this the asylum of the street. This poor, violent, crazy man ought to be in a mental hospital.”