Twenty-three arrests: Niser Cekic, a disturbed street sleeper, has accumulated as many Before he repeatedly stabbed a fruit seller in Queens.

The salesman asked him to move, and Cekic flew into a violent rage when he was awakened from his nap on the asphalt.

By a miracle, the victim of this heinous attack is still alive.

But let’s be clear: this is purely by chance. This story could have ended with another grisly murder.

As with many of these incidents, the question is: why?

Why on earth has Cekic, who almost certainly appears to suffer from serious mental illness, allowed nearly two dozen arrests to accrue?

It had to be clear to everyone – the cops who arrested him, the judges and prosecutors who finally let him stay on the streets – that this man was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

He was arrested for petit larceny, trespassing, criminal possession and bail jumping.

And now he has taken the usual step among New York’s (often mentally ill) criminal class and moved on to attempted murder and assault.

Again, the “attempted” part is just luck.

Her story echoes that of Monique Fort, another member of the club of big thugs.

Fort had 14 prior arrests before he assaulted a woman and stole her child in the Bronx, and was incredibly let go. Again after his last crime.

Continue to watch this space.

Thanks to New York’s insane crime policy And surrounding mental illness, Fort’s name is almost guaranteed to appear here after she commits yet another atrocity.

This is what happens when progressives first refuse to acknowledge that some people are simply too sick in the head to walk freely – then cripple the police, prevent judges from detaining dangerous defendants before trial, mandate incredibly burdensome administrative demands on prosecutors and in general. trying to legalize crime.

They put a match to the long fuses of people like Cekic and Fort.

And when does the explosion happen?

No sympathy. No liability. And above all, no shame.