New York Mayor Bill de Blasio intervened to have ‘erratic anti-Semitic attacker locked up in psych ward because she was left to go free under new bail reforms and was bad publicity for his administration’
- Officials from City Hall were said to have contacted the Office of Court Administration about 30-year-old Tiffany Harris on New Year’s Eve
- The call forced a Brooklyn judge to hold an unscheduled hearing later that day
- Harris had been arrested numerous times in the last week of December, making her the unwelcome poster-child of revolving-door justice
- Her repeated ‘catch and release’ was seen as a PR disaster for New York’s impending new controversial bail reform laws, set to come into effect on Jan. 1
- Court transcripts reveal that Harris’ attorney complained to the judge that De Blasio’s office was trying to detain her client to rectify negative news coverage
- The judge said he would issue a bench warrant for Harris’ arrest, who was later arrested at a Brownsville hotel at 10:45pm on New Year’s Eve
- Harris has remained under psychiatric supervision ever since
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio intervened in the prosecution of an accused anti-Semitic attacker and lobbied to have her locked up in a psychiatric ward because she was generating negatively publicity for his administration, the NY Post reported.
Officials from City Hall contacted the Office of Court Administration about 30-year-old Tiffany Harris on New Year’s Eve, forcing a Brooklyn judge to hold an unscheduled hearing later that same afternoon.
Harris had been arrested a number of times in the last week of December – including an arrest on the 27th for allegedly shouting ‘F*** you, Jews!’ and then slapping three Orthodox Jewish women in the face in Crown Heights – making her the unwelcome poster-child of revolving-door justice.
De Blasio’s administration allegedly became infuriated when they learned of Harris’ third arrest for pinching a social worker on December 30 while she was on supervised released from her previous infraction, the NY Post reports.
Harris’ repeated ‘catch and release’ was reportedly seen as a PR disaster for New York’s impending new controversial bail reform laws.
Set to come into effect just hours later on New Year’s Day, the new policy eliminates cash bail for all misdemeanor crimes and allows suspects presumptive release -which would in this case allow Harris to walk free.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio intervened in the prosecution of an accused anti-Semitic attacker to have her swiftly locked up in a psychiatric ward because she was generating negatively publicity for his administration
Officials from City Hall were said to have contacted the Office of Court Administration about 30-year-old Tiffany Harris on New Year’s Eve, forcing Brooklyn’s supervising judge to hold an unscheduled hearing later that afternoon
‘The Mayor’s Office was deeply concerned after learning that she was not in compliance with her supervised release and her erratic behavior was continuing,’ a source told The Post. ‘They reached out to the court, who then calendared it to further investigate.’
Court transcripts seen by the Post reveal that Harris’ public defender complained to presiding Judge Michael Yavinsky that new coverage of Harris’ purported crimes had lead to interference from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.
She said officials from de Blasio’s office contacted both her and the Brooklyn Justice Initiatives – who were responsible for overseeing Harris – seeking for Harris, who they described as ‘erratic’, to be detained for mental health evaluation.
‘The mayor of the executive branch of the government got involved because of a press case,’ Lisa Schreibersdorf said, noting that the state’s new bail reform law was set to take effect the following day.
‘We’re on the cusp of reform taking place in a few hours from now, and that was not the press they wanted, so what they did was they tried to find a way to intervene in the court process in a different branch of government, getting everybody involved in trying to address this.’
De Blasio has previously criticized aspects of that law, but he has also offered incentives — including gift cards and free metro passes — in an effort to encourage defendants to show up in court.
Harris’ repeated ‘catch and release’ was reportedly seen as a PR disaster for New York’s impending new controversial bail reform laws – set to come into effect on New Year’s Day – which eliminates cash bail for all misdemeanor crimes
Schreibersdorf further emphasized that her client’s scheduled court appearance should not be moved forward because of outside interference.
Regardless, Yavinsky said he would issue a bench warrant for Harris’ arrest, who was later apprehended by police at a Brownsville hotel at 10:45pm on New Year’s Eve.
The next day, Harris was then ordered to be held for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation at an undisclosed facility.
She has since been admitted for mental health observation under the suggestion of her doctor, a source told the Post.
The New York Mayor’s Office has not yet returned a DailyMail.com request for comment.
Spokesperson for de Blasio, Freddi Goldstein told the Post: ‘It is our job to help ensure supervised release works as it should.
‘In that vein, we spoke with the Office of Court Administration after Ms. Harris’ assessment was left incomplete to determine next steps and discuss how to handle situations like this in the future.