YouTube NEW Fox News articles can now be heard on audio! Read this article. 0:00 / 3:15 BeyondWords The 16-year-old was seen on camera savagely beating a police officer after being accosted for not paying the subway fare; this was the teen’s third felony arrest in less than four months. New York City prosecutor Alvin Bragg defended his office’s decision to take a soft approach.
Due to his young age, the boy, whose name has been suppressed, was charged with second-degree assault on Saturday after being seen on an 54-second clip punching an NYPD officer over 20 times, pushing him into a metal barrier, and placing him in a chokehold at a Harlem subway station.
Prosecutors requested the teen’s release without bond and diversion to family court, where he will be tried as a child and face rehabilitation rather than prison, after his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
The Manhattan DA loses all authority over a case once it is transferred to family court and is handled by a different city department.
AFTER BEING CAUGHT ON VIDEO ATTACK BY COPS, A NYC TEEN WAS RELEASED, OPENING A RIDDLE CASE.
In a case that Bragg’s office is pursuing, the troublesome kid was previously detained and released without bail just three days before for allegedly assaulting and robbing a stranger near Madison Avenue on June 21 when he was 15 years old.
According to a statement from Bragg spokeswoman Emily Tuttle, “Our system must respond to children like children.”
After fighting with police on a subway platform in a bloody video, a NY teen was released from custody.
The statement continued, “Violence against our police officers is unacceptable, and given his age at the time of arrest, we consented to send the second case to family court as soon as possible, where he would receive the necessary age-appropriate interventions and supports while being held accountable.
According to a source who spoke to Fox News Digital, the teenager was arrested on April 12 in Brooklyn for having a crossbow and a.40 caliber handgun, but the Manhattan district attorney was unaware of this. The record is sealed due to his advanced age.
EXPERTS SAY NYC DA’S MURDER CHARGE AGAINST ATTACKED CLERK IS INEXPLICABLE.
The Raise the Age law, a component of the state’s extensive criminal justice reforms, mandates that 16 and 17-year-olds accused of misdemeanors and many nonviolent felonies are prosecuted in family court right away.
However, if a crime results in serious bodily harm, the display of a firearm, a sexual assault, or other “exceptional circumstances,” the district attorney may advocate for the case to remain in criminal court.
According to Mark Bederow, a former Manhattan prosecutor who is now a criminal defense attorney, this teen’s actions definitely amounted to “exceptional circumstances.”
He said that the district attorney “obviously understood” that the same criminal defendant was being tried for a violent robbery. “What unusual circumstance is that if not that? Why disregard the violent robbery arrest if aggression against police personnel is unacceptable? This is not being accountable. This is absurd.”
Since he took office in January and amid a rise in crime in New York City, Bragg, the most liberal district attorney in the five boroughs, has drawn criticism for his liberal criminal justice practices.
His office no longer pursues numerous low-level offenses, often reduces felony charges, and has pushed for the sparing use of cash bail.
