“Can the city do more? You’re darn right we can. But our federal government can do more, our state government can do more, our [City Council] partners across the hall can do more, we all could do more.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams lashed out at the city's "broken" justice system after a repeat offender went on a mass stabbing spree shortly after being released from jail. The suspect identified as Ramon Rivera, 51, who suffers from a mental illness, allegedly killed three New Yorkers during last week's act of violence. Adams urged the City Council and neighboring counties to address the failing mental health system, which he claimed could have prevented the deaths of his people.
"If we don't do something about it, we could see incidents like this taking place," Adams told reporters at City Hall on Tuesday. "Can the city do more? You're darn right we can. But our federal government can do more, our state government can do more, our [City Council] partners across the hall can do more, we all could do more."
The Democrat mayor, a 22-year former NYPD veteran, then expressed outrage over the release of Rivera, a homeless man with an extensive criminal history, saying a judge granted the suspect "good time release" despite assaulting a corrections officer while in custody, the New York Post reported. Rivera has been accused of going on a mass stabbing spree on Nov. 18 shortly after being released from custody.
City Hall distributed a timeline of Rivera's months-long imprisonment in New York City's prisons before his release in October. In February, Rivera was apprehended on suspicion of burglary. He was also charged with assaulting a corrections officer in a Bellevue Hospital mental ward in May, as per the Post. Adams stated that the assault was not admissible as evidence against Rivera when officials calculated deductions for his Oct. 17 release on good behavior, as it occurred prior to his 364-day imprisonment for burglary.
Additionally, the mayor pointed out that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office had requested that Rivera's 90-day sentence for assaulting the officer be served concurrently with his punishment for the burglary conviction, a request that was granted by a judge.
In order to prevent Rivera from being moved to a state prison, prosecutors from Bragg's office combined his burglary felony counts into a single case, resulting in an early release. Adams said that Rivera would have been dangerous no matter how long he served.
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