Mayor Eric Adams slammed a recent judicial decision that put a Manhattan man busted for a brutal caught-on-camera bat attack back on the street so quickly as the latest example of America’s legal system failing.
“Every time we do our job as law enforcement in the city [as] administrators, we are seeing this revolving door – a catch, release, repeat system that is really playing out all across the country,” Adams told CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Saturday.
Karim Azizi, 36, is accused of pulling a bat from his pants and swinging it at a 47-year-old man, who is homeless, sending the victim tumbling to the ground. Azizi was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault, attempted assault, and criminal possession of a weapon for the Nov. 6 attack at Amsterdam Avenue and West 148th Street.
A Manhattan Supreme Court judge set Azizi’s bail at $7,500 — about a fifth of the $40,000 that prosecutors sought. Azizi, who police said has no prior arrests, posted the lower bail within hours.
Adams, who has made lobbying Albany pols to toughen bail laws a key part of his first year in office, also brought up other examples of accused criminals being let out on the street too fast – including one of two men charged with plotting to attack New York City synagogues last month.
“I say this over and over again: when are we going to pass laws that protect the innocent people of this city?” Adams said. “We have to stop passing laws that protect the guilty.”
Azizi’s lawyer, Jason Goldman, said the mayor’s “categorical and blanket approach” to bail laws “is exactly” why the Rikers Island jail complex is an “overcrowded hellhole.”
“Azizi isn’t some fish with 30 catch, release, and repeats,” said Goldman. “He’s a human who, prior to this very first arrest for which he is presumed innocent, has never once crossed paths with the criminal justice system. We need to have a more educated conversation to fix what’s broken.’