A man accused of vandalizing several New York City Police Department (NYPD) cruisers was arrested, then cut loose on Wednesday due to New York’s bail reform laws.
The suspect is identified as 22-year-old Christian Genwright of Long Island, who police and prosecutors said targeted almost a dozen law enforcement vehicles, the New York Post reported Thursday.
The incident happened near the 116th Precinct headquarters in Queens late Monday. The man allegedly slashed tires and smashed several windshields.
Photos show the damage left behind after the vandalism spree:
Moments before he was caught on Tuesday, Genwright allegedly reversed his car and almost smacked into a police cruiser when officers spotted him.
ABC 7 reported Tuesday that marked and unmarked police vehicles were targeted, calling the crime “brazen” because there are security cameras outside the precinct:
Authorities charged Genwright with reckless endangerment, 14 counts of criminal mischief, resisting arrest, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. The Post article noted he has been arrested several times in the past.
He was arraigned Wednesday night, but “Genwright was cut loose on supervised release by Judge Jennifer Tubridy because the charges are not eligible for bail under state law, the Queens District Attorney’s Office said,” the outlet stated.
Breitbart News reported in January 2024 that several migrants who attacked NYPD officers were arrested, then released from jail without having to pay bail.
“The four migrants were all released from jail without bail thanks to a New York state law that ensures that suspects charged with crimes deemed ‘nonviolent’ and many violent crimes are not eligible to pay bail,” the outlet said.
A large number of arrested criminal suspects who were freed from jail under the state’s bail reform law were later rearrested on additional criminal charges, Breitbart News reported of state records in 2022.
Breitbart News’s John Binder noted:
As Breitbart News has chronicled, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed the bail reform measures into state law that allow suspects accused of second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, child sex crimes, and making threats of terrorism to walk free from jail without ever having to post bail.
He concluded, “Coinciding with the state law is New York City’s Supervised Release Program which allows thousands of criminal suspects to be released following their arrests without having to post bail or be monitored by social workers.”
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