Suspects hauled in after a spate of alleged anti-Semitic attacks last week are being swiftly released back into the community under a new ‘bail reform’ law.
The legislation, which does not actually come into effect until January 1, allows for defendants to walk free for any assault which does not cause physical harm, including hate crimes.
On Saturday morning, Tiffany Harris was allowed to walk out of Brooklyn Criminal Court without bail after she allegedly slapped three women in the face and shouted, ‘F-U Jews!’
The judge even mentioned the bail reform at the 30-year-old’s arraignment, according to the New York Post, Laura Johnson said: ‘So I’m releasing her on consent and also because it will be required under the statute in just a few days.’
A member of an Orthodox Jewish community walks through a Brooklyn neighborhood on Sunday. Five Orthodox Jews were stabbed by an intruder at a rabbi’s house during a Hannukah party on Saturday evening in the upstate New York town of Monsey. Tensions remain high in Jewish communities following a series of attacks and incidents in recent weeks
Tiffany Harris, 30, was first arrested on Friday for allegedly slapping three Jewish women, among them musician Dalia Shusterman’s friend, in Brooklyn and yelling at them, ‘F-U, Jews!’
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (R) talks during a gathering at Grand Army Plaza in solidarity with the victims after an assailant stabbed five people attending a party at an Hasidic rabbi’s home in Monsey
Harris was charged with attempted assault and misdemeanor and lower-level charges, according to court records.
Police said Harris slapped three women, ages 22 to 31, in the face and head after encountering them on a corner in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights area. The victims suffered minor pain, police said.
The judge issued an order barring Harris from contacting the alleged victims.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has defended the release of defendants as part of bail reform in the city, insisting: ‘We have a problem. We’re not going to jail our way out of the problem.
‘We have a huge NYPD presence. This hate is dangerous.’
There have been eight reports of anti-Semitic attacks since last Monday, not including Saturday night’s horrific knife attack at a Rabbi’s home in upstate New York.
All of the attacks have taken place during the Jewish festival Hanukkah.
Former state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Anti-Semitism, told the Post: ‘You have to beat the hell out of somebody — or murder them — for there to be any consequences …
‘It’s open season in New York — open season on innocent people. On Jews, on Muslims, on gay people. It applies to anybody. But it’s the Jewish people in particular who have been targeted.’
On Friday night another suspect, Ayana Logan, 43, was released without bail after she allegedly whacked a Brooklyn woman over the head and yelled ‘You f***ing Jew! Your end is coming!’
Thomas Grafton, 37, of Greenwood Lake, was arraigned on five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary in Ramapo Town Court late Sunday morning
The alleged victim had been walking out of a Dunkin’ Donuts with her three-year-old son in Gravesend at around 3.20pm on Thursday.
The only other suspect in the eight attacks to have been apprehended was Steven Jorge, 28, after an alleged beating in Midtown Manhattan.
The 65-year-old victim was punched and kicked, suffering cuts, police said.
He had been wearing a yarmulke, according to former state Assemblyman Hikind.
Jorge is the only suspect to have been locked up without bail pending a psychological examination.
De Blasio said last Friday that there would be increased police presences in Crown Heights and two other Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Jewish populations.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) talks during a gathering on Sunday at Grand Army Plaza in solidarity with the victims after an assailant stabbed five people attending a party at an Hasidic rabbi’s home in Monsey, upstate New York
New Yorkers have expressed their disgust at Harris and Logan being released without bail.
Steve Benjamin, 30, of Borough Park, told The Post, ‘We’re scared to walk at night in the street.
‘There is a lot of hate here and I don’t know why. People in the community are scared. It’s very dangerous. It’s just like remembering the days before World War II. I don’t let my kids out alone.’
Mayor de Blasio has blamed ‘hatred from Washington’ for the Hanukkah party stabbings in upstate New York and the spate in the city.
Grafton E Thomas, 37, of Greenwood Lake, pleaded not guilty after he was arraigned on five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary in Ramapo Town Court late Sunday morning. His bail was set at $5million.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio lights the first candle of the Menorah on the 8th night of Chanukah at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday
Grafton, 37, pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary at an arraignment in Ramapo Town Court late Sunday morning. He is pictured leaving the court
He is accused of stabbing five people in a rabbi’s home in Monsey during a Hanukkah celebration in on Saturday night.
The attack came days after New York City Mayor de Blasio was forced to beef-up police forces in Jewish communities reeling from a spate of recent attacks believed to be motivated by antisemitism.
But the mayor told Fox News Sunday ‘an atmosphere of hate’ that has been ‘developing in this country over the last few years’ is to blame for the rise in assaults. He added: ‘A lot of it is emanating from Washington and it’s having an effect on all of us.’
Governor Andrew Cuomo along with police, elected officials and community leaders, speaks Sunday at Ramapo Town Hall about Saturday night’s stabbings at a rabbi’s home in Monsey
David Anderson, left, and Francine Graham, right, were killed by cops after fatally shooting a police detective and three civilians on December 10, in an attack that investigators say was motivated by anti-police and anti-Semitic hatred
Insisting he was ‘not just blaming’ Donald Trump, de Blasio added: ‘We need a different tone, starting in Washington that encourage this country to actually find some unity and some common ground.’
When probed on what he was going to do about the spate of attacks, de Blasio admitted: ‘We are in a crisis right now.
‘What we’re seeing is a growth of antisemitism in this country that is profoundly dangerous. It is happening in Europe as well.’