The boy — who has not been identified because he is a juvenile — was released after being busted Wednesday, alleging that he and three others jumped a 49-year-old man on a Midtown street, punching the victim and running off with his cell phone. Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office asked that he be released on “intensive community supervision” at his arraignment, although they could have asked for bail on the top robbery charge. A few days later, on Saturday, the boy was arrested in connection with the subway incident, in which he was caught on camera violently attacking a Manhattan police officer after he allegedly jumped a turnstile at the 125th Street-Lexington Avenue station in East Harlem. The teenager was again released without bail on Sunday and the case was transferred to Family Court, where the proceedings are hidden from the public. Under the state’s Raise the Age Act enacted in 2017, the majority of cases involving 16- and 17-year-olds are now diverted directly to Family Court. A 16-year-old accused of assaulting a police officer was released from custody in a juvenile facility Tuesday in an unrelated robbery case.Steven Hirsch During a hearing Tuesday, prosecutors said they hoped the robbery case would also be moved to family court. At their request, a judge sent the teenager to St. John’s, a “non-secure detention center” in Queens, where he will have a 6 p.m. curfew and be subject to monitoring as the case progresses. “The People have not received supporting filings required to move this case to Family Court,” ADA Eva Dowdell said during the hearing in the Juvenile Division of Manhattan Supreme Court. “We are asking the court for a transfer [the defendant] in the care of the residence of Agios Ioannis”. The teenager allegedly jumped a turnstile before the violent brawl. The teenager was again released without bail on Sunday and the case was transferred to Family Court. Judge Althea Drysdale agreed. “I will release you on your own recognizance, because The People asked me to release you on your own recognizance,” Drysdale told the teenager. “I just told you, I’m dropping you off at St. John’s.” Stern in her demeanor, Drysdale repeatedly asked the teenager if he understood the conditions of his release at the St. John’s facility. Each time he replied, “Yes, your honor.” The teenager is the poster child for everything wrong with the criminal justice system, Mayor Eric Adams said. Steven Hirsch At the end of the hearing, the boy asked the court: “Am I allowed to press charges?” “Press complaint against whom?” replied Drysdale. The teenager did not give a clear answer. The boy did not answer reporters’ questions as he left the courthouse with his lawyer on Tuesday. He will be back in court Friday, when prosecutors expect to be able to move the case to Family Court. At 16, the teenager falls under the so-called “Raise the Age” law, which is meant to keep young people accused of crimes out of the adult system. The legislation raised the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 statewide, effective October 1, 2019. Under the law, suspects aged 16 and 17 are sent to Family Court as long as their cases do not involve a violent felony with a deadly weapon, a sex crime or “significant bodily injury” to their victim. The teenager at the center of the subway brawl is facing robbery and second-degree assault charges for a midnight June 21 robbery in which prosecutors say he and three others punched a man in the head and stole his phone. The late-night robbery at East 40th Street and Madison Avenue left the victim with cuts to his head and hand, according to a criminal complaint. The teenager’s case sparked outrage from police officers, with the Police Benevolent Union union sharing video of the transit system striking, saying: “Police officers put themselves on the line to make the subways safer, but we feel abandoned by a justice system that will not support us.” The teenager was sent to St. John’s, a “non-secure detention center” in Queens. The teenager appeared at his hearing on Tuesday. Mayor Eric Adams, during a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday, used the teenager as a poster child for everything that is wrong with the criminal justice system. “We have to look at violent offenders, and this is a clear case in point,” Adams said. “Robbery is a violent crime. But once we catch them, the system releases them and they do it again… When I say we’re the laughing stock of the country, that’s what I’m talking about.” A spokesman for the Manhattan DA’s office insisted that “intensive community supervision was the appropriate pretrial determination” in the robbery case, citing the teenager’s age, then 15, and saying he had no prior arrests that they knew of. Police sources said the boy has had a sealed case since April in which he was arrested after he was allegedly found in a car with a loaded gun and a crossbow in Brooklyn. “Our system must respond to children as children,” spokeswoman Emily Tuttle told The Post. Bail is meant to ensure a suspect’s return to court, Tuttle said, noting the teenager appeared at his hearing Tuesday. Referring to the boy’s arrest for assault on the subway, Tuttle said the DA’s office was seeking “age-appropriate interventions” to address the alleged crimes. “Violence against our police officers is unacceptable and given his age at the time of his arrest we agreed to send his second case to Family Court as soon as possible where he would receive the age appropriate interventions and support he needs while he is held accountable “, he said.
