Why was the guy who derailed a NYC subway set free with no bail after a previous offense?
[Hat tip: Ace.]
A man with the wonderful name of Demetrius Harvard caused tremendous damage – and could have caused a lot more – when he was witnessed putting metal debris on the subway tracks, which managed to derail a NYC subway to the tune of about a million dollars in damages.
My first thought on reading that was hmmm, I wonder why the terrorists didn’t do that in the 60s. My second thought was that I hoped this doesn’t inspire copycats. And my third and fourth thoughts – on reading the rest of the article and learning that Harvard had been freed without bail and was on “supervised release” after a previous offense of damaging an MTA bus by striking it with a metal barricade – was that no-bail release for such an offense is stark raving madness, and that “supervised release” is some sort of bitter joke.
This guy allegedly did something potentially very dangerous in the previous offense against the bus, attacking city property that may or may not have been carrying passengers. And yet, no bail necessary. I couldn’t find any article that answered the question of where the bus was when attacked and whether it had passengers, but I very much doubt that it was unoccupied and in some storage place. My guess is that it did have passengers, and if so it makes Harvard’s act and his easy release that much worse.
And that’s not all – there’s more [emphasis mine]:
A man accused of attempting to derail a New York City subway train was released without bail in a prior case despite having an open warrant for failing to appear in court.
Demetrius Harvard was arrested and arraigned on Sept. 5 after he struck a bus with a metal street barricade. He was charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and granted supervised release. Prosecutors did not ask for bail.
At the time of his arrest, he had an open warrant for failing to appear in court in a March case in which he threatened employees at a mobile phone store with a metal pipe and threw a trash can at the store’s sign, according to the New York Post. The judge released him without bail in that case despite prosecutors requesting a $1,000 bail.
It’s not as though the city of New York didn’t have plenty of warning about this man’s dangerousness. But their policies are the opposite of “broken windows.”
This time, Harvard’s bail was set at $50,000. That’s actually not all that much, considering the magnitude of his crime. I wonder why he isn’t being charged with terrorism, because I believe that his latest offense may fail into that category.
And how was Harvard caught? By the quick and courageous actions of a man named Rikien Wilder:
Wilder said he noticed a strange man walking on the tracks, and then placing debris on the rails. When the man came up to the platform, Wilder jumped into action and headed down to the tracks, himself.
“I removed what I could see and I got up out of there because you know, I could hear, I could feel the turbulence from the train coming,” Wilder said. “It kind of angered me a little bit because he seemed to get some joy out of, you know, wrecking the train and potentially harming people.”
Wilder went to alert MTA workers at the station, while the man, who police identified as Demetrius Harvard, allegedly went back down to the tracks and placed more debris on the rails. The next train that passed derailed, injuring three people.
“Normally, we don’t encourage riders, customers to go down onto the tracks,” MTA Chairman Pat Foye said.
But Wilder wasn’t done. He then chased the suspect and held him for 15 minutes until police arrived. Chairman Foye said that for Wilder’s heroism the MTA would “extend the highest award the MTA can provide to a civilian” — a year of unlimited MetroCard rides.
I think someone should donate some reward money to him, as well.
By the way, since everything seems to be about race these days, both the perpetrator and the hero of this story are black.
both the perpetrator and the hero of this story are black
Diversity (i.e. color judgment), not limited to racism, and other prejudicial systems, processes, and beliefs, is founded in low-information judgments that breed adversity.
Loathsome Cuomo, clueless DeBlasio have provided New Yorkers with their enlightened “get out of jail free” program.
Best not to lock up any potential Dem voters until after the election
From “Broken Windows” to “Break All Windows.”
Neo, I agree – if it was that easy to derail a train, how did this happen rarely or not at all before? Is the perp mentally ill, maybe? I suppose that will be looked into along the way. And the “supervised release” – ha! – supervised by whom? Who fell asleep at that switch, hm?
Many questions. Hats off to Mr. Wilder – it takes a brave man these days to stick his neck out to stop some unhinged person one-on-one.
These kinds of incidents carry such weighty implications for how people can live in NYC. I wonder, does the no-bail instance from September 5 go back once again to the specific law that was passed for bail reform, or was it based on some other consideration?
Say his name: who is the municipal court judge who set this man free?
If Trump wins, I would hope that one of the first tasks of the next Trump Administration will be to use all the force of law to identify, penalize, and to go after–in every possible way they can–these various Democrat office holders and officials, whose misfeasance and malfeasance–whose very deliberate actions and refusals to act–have made possible and increased the disruption , violence, intimidation, destruction, and the spread of fear we are currently suffering from.
DeBlasio will probably have this guy Wilder arrested too for trespassing and “tampering” with the tracks (even though he was removing debris). I would guess Wilder is the one who faces jail time for his actions, not Harvard, especially if the races of the two are right.
Moreover, although it is currently some Democrats in Congress who are talking about legislation to modify or perhaps to eliminate the current doctrine of “qualified immunity”–which prohibits officials and police from being sued for their actions–given a Trump victory and Republican majorities in both houses of Congress–the torpedo circling back towards those who have launched it–such modifications might also be undertaken by Republicans.
crepes, totally agree. It’s the pattern, is it not? That was one of the reasons why I suggested Mr. Wilder was particularly brave. And the very fact that we sit ready to expect such a thing of ‘Hizzoner’ as a matter of course is… well, I guess indicative of our times.
Or maybe Wilhelm won’t pull the trigger himself; he’ll get somebody in the DA’s office to do it for him.
(And crepes, your presence is making me hungry. What kind(s) are you? Savory? 🙂 )
Only a year of MetroCard rides?!? They need to make another level of reward called “Free Rides For Life”. I would donate to a reward for that guy. It takes guts to step in front of one of these terrorists and it takes guts to jump down onto the rails to prevent a potentially catastrophic train derailment.
“Demetrius Harvard” is one who in days of old would have been involuntarily committed to a State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Now my bro the shrink “treats” such in a community mental health center. Hah.
Whether sane or not, that was an act of terrorism. Those accused of acts of terrorism should never have the option of making bail. Cuomo, de Blasio and the Judge who released that terrorist are guilty of now being accessories to terrorism and obstruction of justice.
Fractal Rabbit: “Only a year of MetroCard rides?!?”
Oh, you should have heard the local TV news here in the New York City area – they ALL went off on that cheap reward. There wasn’t a single newscaster covering that story that didn’t suggest what you suggested – free rides for life!
I endorse Fractal Rabbit’s idea!
humans are insane. Get used to it. Any one of you can be hijacked or root hacked or temporarily Taken Over, by the agent smiths of this dark matrix.
Take a look at this extraordinary, well-written essay about the mind-set and actions of Leftist intellectuals vis-a-vis revolution and terrorism in Russia prior to the Russian Revolution.
A lot of what is discussed sounds eerily similar to what is going on among Leftist intellectuals here in the U.S. today.
See https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/suicide-of-the-liberals