A NYPD cop turned “vigilante” was hit with tried homicide and kidnapping costs Thursday for a wild caught-on-video off-duty taking pictures that left the sufferer clinging to life on a respirator.
Jonathan Baez, 44, a 12-year veteran of the division, allegedly chased down the lads he believed had stolen his automotive two days earlier on March 16, pinning one man to the bottom at gunpoint and taking pictures one other within the head when he tried to get away — leaving him critically wounded, prosecutors stated.
“He’s an NYPD officer sworn to guard and serve the general public with integrity, courtesy, professionalism and respect. It pains me to say that he’s now charged,” Bronx Assistant District Legal professional Jon Veiga stated on the cop’s arraignment. “He went from a criminal offense sufferer, on Saturday evening, March 14, to a vigilante.”
Baez was livid after his 2024 Honda CRV was stolen from exterior his Riverdale residence constructing, and allegedly did greater than 200 searches on NYPD databases to trace down a white Hyundai Genesis noticed subsequent to the stolen automobile on surveillance footage, prosecutors stated.
He discovered the Hyundai two days later and adopted the automobile on the Cross Bronx Expressway and the Main Deegan, till it exited round West 230th St. in Kingsbridge round 9 p.m., prosecutors stated.
Chilling surveillance footage on the scene reveals Baez leaping out of his automotive along with his gun drawn, ordered the driving force out of the automotive “and straddled him with the gun pressed in opposition to his again,” Veiga stated.
Baez allegedly then “ordered that sufferer to make one other 911 name to say that he was being held at gun level,” the prosecutors stated. “The motive force made the decision, telling the dispatcher, ‘I’m being held with a gun, and I don’t know why.’”
Veiga stated Baez advised the person on the bottom, “I’m not the police.”
That’s when a passenger within the again seat of the Hyundai jumped behind the wheel and began to tug away — when the off-duty cop allegedly fired two pictures, hanging the 30-year-old sufferer within the head as he sat within the passenger’s seat.
Veiga stated two of the lads “might have really been concerned within the theft of this automotive.
“Sadly, the one who was shot within the head, was completely not concerned within the theft of the defendant’s automotive,” he stated. “He’s the one who’s mendacity on a ventilator proper now.”
He requested that Baez be held on $250,000 money bail or a $750,000 bond.
The cop was indicted on costs of tried homicide, assault, kidnapping, illegal imprisonment, laptop trespass and official misconduct, pleading not responsible.
His lawyer, Mark Bederow, stated his shopper has been with the NYPD since 2014, and doesn’t have a document of disciplinary motion — and is conscious of how severe the costs are.
He stated Baez is presently suspended with pay.
In court docket, Bederow requested Bronx Supreme Courtroom Justice Laurence Busching to launch the cop with out bail or cheap bail whereas he fights the costs, and stated he’s not a threat to flee.
“When this incident occurred in March, it was everywhere in the media, within the New York Submit, on tv. Officer Baez was named because the particular person concerned, and right here is as we speak,” the lawyer stated.
Busching set the quantity a $100,000 in money or a $250,000 bond.
“Law enforcement officials are sworn to serve and defend the general public, and even when they’re off responsibility, they’re anticipated to conduct themselves with integrity,” Bronx DA Darcel Clark stated in a press release.
