Court records show the man accused of stalking and harassing pop star Taylor Swift last month visited her Tribeca apartment more than 30 times, and was arrested three times before he was jailed. David Crowe, 33, appeared in court Wednesday morning. His attorney said he was found mentally unfit to stand trial, and asked that he be moved from the Rikers Island jails to a hospital. Prosecutors say they are reviewing the results of Crowe's mental health exam to decide whether or not they will accept them.
While the case involves one of the most famous women in the world, it is otherwise not that unusual. About 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men have been stalked at some point in their lives, according to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. Yet stalking is a crime that experts say is notoriously hard to police and prosecute.
The reason, experts say, is that many stalking behaviors can pass for normal behaviors — including calling someone on the phone, standing on a public sidewalk near their residence, or sending them a gift. It can be difficult for police or prosecutors to show the victim had cause to feel afraid in order to prove a case.
Gothamist spoke to law enforcement and legal experts to better understand stalking and why it can be hard to stop.
What is stalking?
In New York, stalking is legally defined as “intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose,” directing a repeated behavior at someone that is “likely to cause [them] reasonable fear of material harm." Crowe is charged with stalking in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor crime punishable by up to three months in jail.
First-degree stalking, a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison, is when a person hurts someone else — or commits another crime, such as sexual assault — while stalking them.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stalking can look like:
- Following or watching someone who doesn’t want it.
- Approaching someone or showing up when they don’t want it.
- Using GPS to track someone who doesn’t want it.
- Leaving strange or potentially threatening items for someone to find.
- Sneaking into a person’s home or car and letting the person know you were there, or doing things to scare them.
- Using technology to spy on someone from a distance.
- Unwanted phone calls, including hang-ups and voice messages.
- Unwanted texts, emails, social media or photo messages.
- Unwanted cards, letters, flowers or presents.
How do stalking cases usually look?
Police work on lots of celebrity stalking cases in New York, according to Tarik Sheppard, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of public information. And celebrity stalking cases are most likely to make the news.
But most stalking cases happen between intimate partners or acquaintances. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey has found that women reported being stalked by intimate partners about 43% of the time and by acquaintances about 40% of the time; they said their stalker was a stranger about 18% of the time.
The survey found similar data about male victims. About 44% of men said they were stalked by acquaintances, 32% said they were stalked by former intimate partners, and about 20% said they were stalked by strangers.
“Stranger stalkers are much less common than Lifetime movies would lead us to believe,” said Renée Williams, director of the nonprofit National Center for Victims of Crime.
Stalking also disproportionately affects young people. More than half of female stalking victims reported they were stalked for the first time before they were 25 and about half said they were first stalked before turning 18, according to the survey.
Why is it so hard to arrest and prosecute stalkers?
Stalking can be a hard crime to prove, according to police and prosecutors. Since some stalking behavior can look similar to non-threatening behavior, it helps for victims to document a pattern of behavior with evidence, including call logs, email records and surveillance footage.
“A stalker might go by your house 30 times, and your neighbor might go by your house 30 times,” said criminal defense lawyer John Carman, of Garden City, New Jersey, who has defended people on stalking charges.
The problem for police and prosecutors is distinguishing between the two. That problem can be especially tricky in New York City, where the area outside a person’s home or work might be a busy public sidewalk.
The issue can be clarified if the victim gets a restraining order, Carman said. Then it’s clear that the stalker is breaking the law if they contact the person or come within 100 feet of their home.
Stalking cases can also require a lot of police investigative work, but generally result in no more than a misdemeanor charge, experts said. Still, stalking is “a form of domestic violence” and should be taken seriously, said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former Manhattan chief assistant district attorney.
According to the New York City Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, more than half of female homicide victims nationally reported stalking to the police before they were killed by their stalker, and 76% of female homicide victims reported being stalked by an intimate partner before they were killed. Yet to warrant charging someone with first-degree stalking — a low-level felony — the victim would have to be physically injured or sexually harmed, Agnifilo said.
What can victims do to document stalking and protect themselves?
“The most simple thing is just writing things down in the moment,” said Williams, of the National Center for Victims of Crime. Victims should email a friend or family member immediately after something happens, so that there’s a dated record of the incident, she added. Taking pictures if it’s safe to do so and getting security cameras also helps, she said.
Williams’ group offers a free hotline that stalking victims can call or text for anonymous advice on making safety plans. “It just seems that people don't take these things seriously until there's harm done,” she said.
Security management expert Kris Mohandie told WNYC’s "All Of It" this month that “it’s important to document and create a package of this information, which could be used by an agency to pursue the case."
She added that it’s crucial to document any efforts to stop stalkers: “Any documentation of ‘I told him to stop, I told him I don’t want this.’”
WomensLaw.org, a Brooklyn-based group dedicated to helping survivors of domestic violence, offers a comprehensive list of safety tips for stalking victims, including:
- Stop communicating with the stalker if it is safe to do so.
- Carry a cellphone with you, and call 911 if you feel you are in immediate danger.
- Trust your instincts. If you feel uncomfortable for any reason, you may want to reach out for help, even if nothing immediately dangerous is happening.
- Have a safe place in mind where you can go in an emergency.
- Try not to travel alone.
What do we know about the Taylor Swift case?
On Jan. 20, police responded to a 911 call about a “disorderly person” on Franklin Street who was trying to open the door to Swift’s apartment building, according to police records.
Officers responded and found Crowe. They did not say where he was when he was arrested, and they did not arrest him on stalking charges at the time. Rather, they ran his name through their system and found there was an open warrant for his arrest after he failed to pay a 2017 ticket. Police arrested him on that warrant, and he was later released.
Crowe returned to Swift’s home two days later, asking her building's security guard to speak to her, court records show. He was arrested on charges of stalking and harassment, and a judge signed a restraining order against him, police said. He was released without bail because the crime was not bail eligible, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
In the subsequent days, Crowe visited Swift’s home “approximately 30 times,” despite Swift’s security guard asking him to leave at least 10 times, according to the unnamed guard’s account in court records. A police spokesperson said he did not know whether police were called in that period, whether they came to the building and if so, what happened. On Jan. 24, Crowe was arrested a third time on charges of violating a restraining order, according to court records.
Crowe was denied bail and is currently incarcerated at the Rikers Island jail complex. He is represented by New York County Defender Services, a nonprofit public defender organization.
This story has been updated with information from Wednesday's court appearance.
