The “dirtbag” teenager charged in the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old Bronx boy was free to roam the streets despite “a rap sheet up the wazoo,” the victim’s family railed Monday, as they took aim at the state’s lax criminal justice system.
Brandon Perez had racked up four arrests — including two for possession of a loaded gun — in the course of 10 months before he was nabbed Saturday in the Sept. 17 murder of Ethan Borges.
The slain teen’s uncle said Perez, 15, shouldn’t have been out in the first place.
“If you don’t lock this kid up — who you know is a dirtbag and has no respect for you or the law or anyone — he’s going to be back out in the street before you’re finished fingerprinting him,” Michael Petry told The Post.
Perez has a grand larceny arrest from November and a gun possession case in December — both in the Bronx, sources said.
His second most recent bust was on Sept. 4 for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in Manhattan.
And he has a sealed arrest for grand larceny, sources said.
The accused killer is being prosecuted as a juvenile in his older cases, which are being handled in Family Court, according to sources and court officials.
A spokesman for the Law Department, which is tasked with prosecuting Perez, said he could not provide any information on them because they’re confidential.
Perez is also being treated as a juvenile in Borges’ murder and appeared in court Monday — as the victim’s uncle revealed disturbing details of the teen’s death.
“He stabbed him right in his heart,” Petry, a retired New York state trooper who now lives in Florida, said of his nephew. “He basically bled out. They were able to revive him with blood, but his brain went 20 minutes without oxygen. He was brain dead at that point.”
Borges, an aspiring rapper, was at the bus stop in front of 1041 Southern Boulevard around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 15 when he got into a fight with Perez.
The teen, stabbed twice, was left in a pool of blood as his attacker fled. He was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he underwent surgery but never recovered.
Perez was busted over the weekend after police reviewed surveillance footage.
Sources said the two teens didn’t know one another and that a motive is not yet clear.
Perez’s neighbors in Soundview said he and his pals are known for “terrorizing the building.”
“Most people are afraid to stand outside the building because of them,” the neighbor said. “Children can’t play outside, we all know that. The shootings are not infrequent and it’s him and his friends. That kid should not have been on the streets.”
The teen menace is now being held on second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and weapons possession charges, pending an Oct. 12 court date, the state Office of Court Administration said.
Defendants between the ages of 13 and 15 can be tried as adults in New York State but are tried in juvenile court instead of adult court.
The state’s recent “Raise the Age” law upped the age where defendants are automatically tried as adults to 18, but it only affects suspects who are 16 and 17 years old.
“I think it’s a complete shame in the criminal justice system, especially being a former police officer myself,” Petry said.
“You get arrested on some serious charges. It’s not like shoplifting a pack of gum. But some of these teenagers are getting arrested on serious charges without proper bail and there’s no incentive for a dirtbag to not continue his path of destruction.
“I’m actually glad I don’t live in New York City anymore.”
