NYC migrants who jumped, bit two NYPD cops cut loose without bail: ‘Open war on cops’
A pair of migrant thugs who attacked two of New York’s Finest are back on the street after Manhattan prosecutors agreed to cut them loose without bail, The Post has learned.
Brian Joseph, 24, and Jose Gonzalez, 19, were both arrested Sunday after scuffling with cops on traffic patrol on Eighth Avenue shortly after 9:50 p.m. — allegedly biting one officer and hurling a moped at the other, according to law enforcement sources and officials.
But when they were hauled into court on Monday, Manhattan prosecutors agreed to let them walk.
Court transcripts of the proceedings show that in both cases prosecutors told the judge that the district attorney’s office “would be consenting to the defendant’s release on his own recognizance.”
A spokesperson for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“What kind of message is this sending to the public?” one ticked-off Manhattan cop told The Post. “They are basically saying anyone in a blue uniform is a human piñata.”
Another police officer called it “allowing open war on cops.
“Today they bite and kick a cop and tomorrow they take a shot at cops,” they said. “If there are no consequences they are only encouraging people to attack cops.”
Police first confronted the suspects in front of the Row NYC Hotel at 700 Eighth Ave., when one of the cops allegedly asked Gonzalez, who was allegedly recklessly riding on a moped, for identification — which he didn’t have, the sources said.
When the cop tried to arrest Gonzalez a clash broke out and two others jumped the officers, cops and sources said. The trio bit one cop on the arm and wrist and kicked the moped on top of the other, leaving him with a contusion and scratched cornea.
Police are still looking for the third suspect, who allegedly kicked the cops and ran off, the sources said.
The two were charged with assault and assault on a police officer.
Gonzalez and Joseph will remain free pending return court appearances in September.
“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, spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, said in a statement when asked about the case.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said the release of the two suspects shows “zero common sense and zero concern 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 turning out in court to show the entire justice system that their actions are getting cops hurt and putting all New Yorkers at risk.”
