NYPD officials blast bail reform laws after suspect who attacked officers is released
NEW YORK - At a press conference with Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea expressed his frustration over the decision to release Quaran Campbell without bail, after Campbell was seen on video and body camera knocking a police officer unconscious who later required eight staples to the head, fracturing the orbital bones of a lieutenant and punching NYPD Chief Terence Monahan during a unity march followed by a counter-protest on the Brooklyn Bridge on Wednesday.
“There needs to be consequences for people that just have no regard for laws,” Shea said.
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The Manhattan Assistant DA had requested that Campbell’s bail be set at $75,000, but the judge set the assailant free, leaning Monahan to tweet that “Judge Robert Rosenthal’s reckless decision to release Mr. Campbell WITHOUT BAIL endangers every New Yorker and the officers who risk it all to protect them.”
In a statement to FOX 5 NY, New York Courts Spokesman Lucian Chalfen wrote: “Judges have wide latitude and discretion, this was the first arrest for this defendant and obviously the judge was satisfied that supervised release would ensure the defendant's return to court.”
“New York state is an outlier in the country in that the only factor that can be considered in whether or not someone should have bail set is whether or not they should return to court,” said Lucy Lang, Director of John Jay College’s Institute for Innovation in Protection.
According to Lang, most other states allow a judge to factor in whether or not an individual is a potential danger to the community in their bail decision.
“There is a reasonable concern in the advocacy community that an assessment of dangerousness can quickly become a proxy for race,” Lang said.
So far, the NYPD’s data has failed to show that those released during the COVID-19 pandemic are responsible for the recent spike in crime.
The attorney for the man charged with assaulting the three police officers declined to comment.