NEW YORK, NY - Last week, two suspects accused of assaulting NYPD officers were released without bail, the New York Post reported.
The two, Brian Joseph, 24, and Jose Gonzalez, 19, were arrested on July 28 after an altercation with officers on Eighth Avenue that evening. One of the officers was bitten, while another narrowly avoided being hit with a moped thrown by one of the pair, according to law enforcement sources.
Joseph and Gonzalez appeared in court on July 29, and were promptly released without bail by prosecutors assigned to Bragg’s office.
The Post reviewed court transcripts which showed prosecutors told the judge that the DA’s office “would be consenting to the defendant’s release on his own recognizance.”
The Post reached out to Bragg’s office for comment, however there was no immediate response.
“What kind of message is this sending to the public?” one very aggravated Manhattan police officer told The Post. “They are basically saying anyone in a blue uniform is a human pinata."
Yet another said Bragg’s office is “allowing open war on cops.”
“Today they bite and kick a cop and tomorrow they take a shot at cops,” he said. “If there are no consequences they are only encouraging people to attack cops.”
The two suspects were confronted after Gonzalez was spotted operating a moped in a reckless manner. When an officer asked Gonzalez for identification, he said he didn’t have any, at which point the officer tried to arrest him. Two other men jumped the police officers, according to police sources. One officer was bitten on the arm and wrist, while another officer was struck by the moped, leading to a contusion and a scratched cornea.
The third suspect fled and is still at large, sources said. Both Joseph and Gonzalez were charged with assault on a police officer. After being released without bail, they are scheduled to return to court in September.
The Post reached out to the Office of Court Administration for New York for comment and received the following response:
“We don’t comment on bail decisions except to say that in cases like these in New York, judges have discretion in making bail decisions in accordance with the law and based solely on an individualized assessment of a defendant’s risk of flight,” Al Baker, a spokesman for the agency told The Post in a statement.
Meanwhile, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry slammed the decision to release the suspects without bail, saying the decision shows “zero common sense and zero concerns for the safety of cops on the streets.”
“We’ve seen dozens of significant assaults on police officers in Manhattan this year, and there’s a clear pattern in those cases–prosecutors and judges are only doing their job when they’re in the spotlight,” Hendry said in a statement.
“We will keep running out in court to show the entire justice system that their actions are getting cops hurt and putting all New Yorkers at risk.”
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