A homeless man charged with a hate crime for allegedly punching an Asian woman in New York City was arrested several times last year and dozens of times overall, drawing attention to the city’s recently relaxed bail requirements.
Alexander Wright, who stands accused of punching a 55-year-old woman and sending her to the hospital, has now been arrested five times in the past year and 40 times overall, according to the New York Post.
Wright was charged with assault as a hate crime Tuesday for the attack that was captured on video.
NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE RELEASES AD SLAMMING NYPD AND SUGGESTS IT DOESN’T WANT BLACK PEOPLE TO BREATHE
This was just sent to me from my constituent. This just happened in my district in Chinatown. He has been arrested and our precinct is investigating. pic.twitter.com/sxNfCbrlza
— Yuh-Line Niou (@yuhline) May 31, 2021
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea responded to the news with frustration and made the argument that bail reform laws enacted at the beginning of last year are to blame for the attack.
“What are we doing in society when we are releasing these people right back onto the streets?” Shea asked. “It’s putting New Yorkers at risk.”
Police say Wright has been arrested in the past year for second-degree assault, harassment, and felony criminal mischief but was still walking the streets. In one of the cases that got him arrested, Wright allegedly punched a 72-year-old man in the face at a bus stop.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Friday, we had a 65-year-old Asian woman brutally pushed down the stairs in the transit system at 34th Street,” Shea said, referencing another recent incident of violence in the city by an alleged perpetrator with multiple previous arrests. “What’s the common denominator? People that are arrested multiple, multiple, multiple times and released.”
In the case of the 65-year-old woman, the alleged attacker had been arrested over 70 times and was cut loose last December with just a ticket for attacking someone else.
“We need help on some of these laws,” Shea explained. “We cannot be chasing our tail, catch-and-release, catch-and-release.”
“We’re arresting somebody for pushing a woman down the stairs, and then we release them back into the street? I mean, this is crazy,” Shea added. “This is where we need help. This is where the laws intersect with people on the street, and at a time when we’re having hard discussions about reform … and treating all people equally, let’s have this discussion too.”
The bail reform law, pushed by prominent Democrats, allows suspects of more than 400 offenses deemed “nonviolent” to walk free without having to fork over any cash to ensure they appear at a later court date.
Many, including Shea and the NYPD, blamed the law on a crime surge last year, and a poll of New Yorkers showed that almost 60% of the city thinks eliminating bail for those crimes is detrimental to the city.
