Northeast
Illegals who caught bus out of NYC after attack on police may have gotten free ride from US taxpayers: sources
FIRST ON FOX: Four men charged in Saturday’s attack on two NYPD officers are believed to have fled to California on a bus, and unwitting taxpayers appear to have paid for their tickets, a law enforcement source told Fox News Digital.
The city and Mayor Eric Adams have been struggling with a massive influx of illegal immigrants under President Biden.
With many new arrivals making their way to blue sanctuary cities, New York in October began offering one-way plane tickets to migrants who wanted to leave.
Surveillance cameras captured a group of migrants brawling with two police officers, kicking them in the head and wrestling on the ground in video that shocked the city and much of the country this week.
MIGRANT ARRESTED IN SPAT WITH POLICE AFTER SHOWING OFF NYPD ATTACK VIDEO
A migrant charged with assaulting two NYPD officers in Times Square flipped off reporters Wednesday. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post)
More quietly, the city’s Office of Emergency Management has been supplying travel vouchers to migrants who approach participating nonprofit groups and ask for help leaving the overburdened city, according to law enforcement sources. Those vouchers can be used for various means of transportation, including buses.
NYC MIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING POLICE FLEE TO CALIFORNIA UPON RELEASE: REPORT
A handful of the suspects in the shocking attack, after being freed without bail, are believed to have swapped immigration numbers with other people at their shelter and used the misappropriated identities to obtain vouchers and tickets under fake names, a law enforcement source told Fox News Digital.
DANIEL PENNY LAWYER BLASTS RELEASE OF MIGRANTS WHO ATTACKED NYPD OFFICERS WITHOUT BAIL: ‘VERY CONFOUNDING’
Jandry Barros (left) and Yohenry Brito (right) arrive for their arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Both are charged with attacking police officers in Times Square. (Jefferson Siegel for Fox News Digital)
A woman who answered the phone at the church where the suspects are believed to have obtained travel vouchers said she would take a message for the priest authorized to speak with the media. He did not immediately return the call.
But the source said it was a woman at the church who recognized the suspects’ faces in retrospect and flagged their departure to OEM.
An OEM spokesperson deferred comment to City Hall. The mayor’s office shared a statement but did not respond to specific questions about the bus vouchers.
“The men and women of the NYPD put their lives on the line every single day, working tirelessly to keep us and our streets safe,” a spokesperson said. “Violence — of any kind, and no less against our officers — is unacceptable and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CONVICTED OF ASSAULT LAST MONTH AMONG 3 ARRESTED AGAIN IN SANCTUARY CITY ROBBERY
Kelvin Arocha, 19, Wilson Juarez, 21, Yorman Reveron, 24, and Darwin Gomez Izquiel, 19, are all charged with attacking a pair of New York City police officers. (NYPD)
At a press conference Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she wanted to speak with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg about why most of the suspects were released without bail and said prosecutors should have sought to keep them jailed.
“Certainly an assault on a police officer is bail eligible,” Hochul told reporters. “There are over 100 crimes that also can lead to deportation, and so that is also something I want to have a conversation with the district attorney about – his options here.”
Bragg, who met with the governor earlier but did not take part in the news briefing, declined to comment when asked by Fox News why five of the suspects were released. A spokesman for his office told Fox News Digital the alleged bus escape is under investigation.
On the way out of his Manhattan arraignment Wednesday, suspect Jhoan Boada, 22, flashed news photographers two middle fingers while walking with another man who was later arrested after being spotted showing the assault video to other men outside a migrant shelter nearby.
Yoiber Martinez, 19, appeared on video arguing with passing police officers and smoking from a pipe before staggering down the sidewalk. He was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, disrupting traffic and possession of a controlled substance.
Police taking a suspect into custody outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. (FNTV)
At the time of his arrest, he was already walking free despite more than a dozen pending larceny charges, including six felonies related to credit card theft.
Some, but not all, of the suspects and their associates are part of an “Oliver Twist”-style group of Venezuelan pickpockets who operate a ring around Times Square and other tourist attractions, law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital Friday.
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The NYPD identified the assault suspects as Boada, Yohenry Brito, 24, Jandry Barros, 21, Darwin Andres Gomez Izquiel, 19, Kelvin Servat Arocha, 19, Wilson Juarez, 21, and Yorman Reveron, 24.
Reveron has two pending cases in Manhattan for assault and robbery. Barros’ charges in the officer assault were dropped by Bragg’s office, citing a lack of evidence, but he has an open case in Queens on counts of resisting arrest, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.
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Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Chief Darryl Jones is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal review, Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed on Monday.
Sources say the allegation isn’t criminal in nature. The internal review stems from allegations against the chief involving his management of the fire bureau, sources say.
Assistant Chief Matt Davis will now step up as acting chief.
There is no timeline yet for how long Jones will be out on paid leave, but Pittsburgh’s Office of Municipal Investigations will conduct the internal review.
ROCKY HILL — A man from South Carolina is facing charges after cutting down light poles along the highway in Rocky Hill, Connecticut State Police said.
Lamont Carlson Tucker, 62, of Myrtle Beach, is charged with first-degree criminal mischief and fourth-degree larceny, police said.
Police said troopers responded to reports of “an individual cutting light poles” around 5 a.m. Saturday.
Tucker was released on a $3,000 bond and is scheduled to appear at state Superior Court in New Britain June 12, police said.
A Maine lawmaker is preparing to push for legislation that would ban almost all of the controversial automatic license plate readers popping up around the state.
Rep. David Boyer, R-Poland, said he submitted a bill title to ban both municipalities and police departments from using the readers with an exception for cameras used for toll collection. This is the first step in the legislative process. Details may be added to the bill later, and it won’t be considered at least until the Legislature reconvenes in January.
Automatic license plate readers are proliferating in Maine and across the country. Some municipalities here are using cameras by the companies Flock and Verkada. The cameras are meant to alert police departments if a vehicle connected to an active investigation passes by. Footage is sometimes shared with police across the country, raising privacy concerns.
Boyer said local officials in his district covering have the “good taste” to have avoided using license plate readers so far, but he added that his constituents are likely to encounter them in neighboring Auburn. That city, which is the main service center near Boyer’s district, recently approved funding to install Flock cameras at intersections and in neighborhoods.
He said the proposal was inspired by reader malfunctions in other states. Some people have found themselves under investigation after camera errors. But Boyer, a libertarian-leaning lawmaker, also said he was “just trying to slow down the impending surveillance state.”
It’s difficult to pinpoint how many automatic plate readers are running in Maine. DeFlock, an open-source network on which users report sightings of Flock and other cameras, lists 50 stretching from York to Bangor. The real number may be much higher. Earlier this year, Hancock County said it would install 13 Motorola license plate readers across six locations, but so far, none appear on DeFlock’s map.
Civil libertarians on both sides of the political aisle have voiced anxiety over the proliferation of AI-powered surveillance tools in Maine. The state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union recently called Flock “a significant threat to our constitutional rights to privacy.” In April, the conservative Maine Wire also published an article critical of them.
When Hancock County began installing its cameras, some expressed fear they could be used for immigration enforcement despite policies that prevent data sharing with immigration officials. Similar concerns have come up in South Portland, where police recently stopped sharing footage with Flock’s national database accessible to departments across the country.
It’s not clear how the bill might affect other surveillance programs that are not specifically aimed at license plates. Bangor and surrounding towns recently faced significant backlash over their use of Placer AI, a program that uses phone data to monitor foot traffic. In some parts of the state, police are also using AI-powered cameras to generate police reports.
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