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The former poster boy for New York City’s lax bailout reforms walked in and out of the NYPD’s Midtown North Station home on Monday.
Pedro Hernandez, 22, is suspected of shooting at a Mercedes on Fifth Avenue and 50th Street, close to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, at 5:45 PM on Aug. 28.
He was taken into custody on September 26 after being arrested in The Bronx and charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, criminal possession of weapons and reckless danger.
He was held at the station for about an hour before being brought to trial.
In 2017, at age 17, he became the face of the city’s bail reform when he was sent to Rikers after he turned down a plea deal for a 2015 shooting of a 15-year-old boy at a Bronx bodega.
The former poster boy for New York City’s lax bailout reforms walked in and out of the NYPD’s Midtown North Station home on Monday
Pedro Hernandez, 22, is suspected of shooting at a Mercedes on Fifth Avenue and 50th Street, at 5:45 PM on Aug. 28
He was taken into custody on September 26 after being arrested in The Bronx and charged with, among other things, attempted murder
Hernandez is believed to have lost money and gold jewelry to a pair of crooks in a three-card game of monte near St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
As the crooks drove off in their red Mercedes, Hernandez reportedly fired a single shot into the driver’s side door.
Wearing a blue suit with a white shirt, Hernandez appeared unmoved as he was marched into the station. The suspect remained silent as reporters tried to ask him questions.
The New York Post reports that Hernandez was arrested by police after negotiations in which he planned to turn himself in to police failed.
Hernandez is believed to have lost cash and gold jewelry to a pair of crooks in a game of three-card monte, then lost his temper when the men refused to return lost valuables.
As the men drove off in their red Mercedes, Hernandez reportedly fired a single shot into the driver’s side door.
Police say he then got into his own car, a black BMW, and chased the Mercedes into the parking garage of the Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue.
In the garage, men then dumped Hernandez’s belongings, which he picked up before fleeing.
Wearing a blue suit with a white shirt, Hernandez appeared unmoved as he was marched into the station.
The suspect remained silent when journalists tried to ask him questions
The Post reports that Hernandez was caught by police after negotiations in which he planned to turn himself in to police failed
No one was injured in the shooting, although a man, 29, was seriously injured in the melee that followed the scam.
A witness who works at a nearby hotel said: the daily news: “The man started running and then they started chasing each other down the block. Everyone started running in the streets… mostly tourists and some New Yorkers.”
The shooting was caught on camera by a YouTuber who regularly posts videos of three card monte games online, according to the Daily News.
Another witness, who saw the group fighting outside the parking garage, told the newspaper: “Two boys came running out, one after the other. When they got out of the garage, they were lugging. ‘
He continued: “The pursued man dropped something on the floor. The man who was chasing him picked him up, jumped back in the car, and took off as if the whole NYPD was chasing him.”
Hernandez was held at the station for about an hour before being brought to trial, the New York Post reports
Hernandez is a familiar face in New York’s criminal justice system
In 2017, at age 17, he became the face of the city’s bail reform when he was sent to Rikers after refusing a plea deal for a 2015 shooting of a 15-year-old boy at a Bronx bodega.
Hernandez is a familiar face in the New York criminal justice system.
The deal with the Bronx bodega incident IN 2017 would have left him without jail time, but he maintained his innocence and was jailed for a year with $250,000 bail pending trial.
His case received national attention and he was eventually rescued by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation after the amount was reduced to $100,000. The charges in that case were dropped before his trial when a witness refused to cooperate.
In the spring of 2019, he was arrested again and charged with a bodega robbery in which a victim suffered a cut to his face that required 15 stitches. After his arrest, he was released on $15,000 bail.
Hernandez also has three outstanding gun charges against him dating back to 2019. Over the course of the year, Hernandez was arrested 15 times.
Other charges from three years ago included felony reckless danger and reckless driving.
If the city’s current bail laws had been enforced at the time, Hernandez would have walked free on all those charges without bail.
Hernandez and his lawyers insist he was harassed and targeted by the NYPD.
‘Mr. Hernandez has been a target of the NYPD,” Bronx Defenders attorney Julia Deutsch said in 2019: “The details of this case will come out and the truth will prevail.”
Another lawyer representing Hernandez at the time said the prison system was the only thing stopping Hernandez from living a clean life.
“When someone has been wrongfully arrested as many times as Pedro and every case has been dropped, that doesn’t seem to justify the remark I make over and over,” said attorney Alex Spiro.
“If the system keeps Pedro out of the way, he’s a unique kid with a bright future,” Spiro added.
Hernandez is currently suing the NYPD over claims of false arrest.