A poster boy for bail reform gone wrong
Boy, is Pedro Hernandez proving a problematic poster boy for bail reform.
Now 19, he racked up his 15th arrest late Saturday night for driving recklessly and without a license.
Cops approached a man urinating at a bus stop; the perp jumped in Hernandez’s car, which allegedly reversed against traffic. With the police siren blaring, the driver fled through several stop signs before abandoning the 2015 BMW M6.
Officers finally nabbed Hernandez an hour later for blowing a red light while at the wheel of a 2017 Infiniti G35x. He was refused bail because he has another open warrant thanks to missing court on yet another reckless-driving case (involving a stolen BMW — guess the kid likes flashy cars) in Yonkers. He also still faces charges over an April robbery-slashing in The Bronx.
The young man rose to fame in 2016 when he turned down a no-jail plea bargain to maintain his innocence in a botched bodega shooting. A year later, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation proudly posted his $100,000 bail.
That case was later dropped due to an uncooperative witness and allegations of police misconduct. Prosecutors closed yet another case, over a 2015 robbery, after Hernandez made good on a promise to complete a semester of college.
And this is a kid whose experiences helped inspire the Legislature to eliminate (as of next year) bail-or-jail before trial for nearly all misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.
Expect New York to get much more dangerous come Jan. 1.
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