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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) held a news conference to brag about reaching a monumentally low level of prisoners in the city’s jails on Thursday, after releasing inmates over concerns about spreading COVID-19.
But the mayor failed to mention the terrifying statistics — and stories — that have been released since he made the decision to release criminals into the streets before their sentences were served.
What are the details?
During the fanfare of his news conference, de Blasio declared, “We now have fewer people in our jails than any time since [World War II], and we are safer and better for it.”
One America News Network reporter Jack Posobiec shared the clip on Twitter and noted, “shootings up 130% in NYC.”
Posobiec did not cite his source or the time frame, but the numbers might be even worse than that. According to the Washington Examiner, as of Wednesday, “Shootings in New York City are up 277% for the week compared to numbers from 2019.”
Regardless, the stories of horrific crime coming out of the Big Apple in recent days bolster the views of de Blasio’s critics.
One Twitter user replied to Posobiec’s post, “Ask the parents of that 1 year old who was shot in his stroller.”
She was referring to Davell Gardner Jr., a toddler who was killed over the weekend when two men opened fire at a barbecue in Brooklyn and a bullet struck the child in the stomach.
On Thursday, the NYPD release video in hopes of catching the man who attacked a woman from behind on a New York City sidewalk, choking her and stabbing her multiple times as she was pushing her baby in a stroller.
What about the inmates?
Back in April, de Blasio acknowledged a spike in crime and expressed dismay that inmates released due to the coronavirus fears were committing new crimes upon their release.
The mayor said at the time, “I think it’s unconscionable just on a human level that folks were shown mercy and this is what some of them have done.”
He added:
We do see recidivism. I have not seen a huge amount, but any amount is obviously troubling. We’re going to just keep buckling down on it, making sure there’s close monitoring and supervision to the maximum step possible. And the NYPD is going to keep doing what they’re doing.
Also on Thursday, de Blasio announced that he has “no respect for the leadership” of the Sergeants Benevolent Association — the union that represents NYPD officers, the New York Post reported.
