Maya Wiley Campaigns for New York City Mayor in US – 12 Jun 2021
NEW YORK (77WABC) — As crime skyrockets in New York City, new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is getting heat from Harlem residents — his own backyard.
In the past few days alone, the neighborhood has seen a series of high-profile crimes, including an off-duty cop shot, a man pummeled and run over by a car in a brutal gang assault and a city transit bus full of passengers hit by a stray bullet in broad daylight. This also includes the shooting deaths of two young NYPD cops in Harlem last month.
“If I saw the DA in the street, I would slap him in the face, honestly,” Mildred Serrano told the New York Post. “Crime is just getting worse and worse and worse. A lot of people with horrible charges, including gun crimes, don’t get incarcerated and are out roaming free again. They need to stop allowing repeat offenders back on the street.”
Crime is up nearly 30 percent so far this year in the area. Bragg has also come under fire for his January 3 memo, outlining more lenient handing of misdemeanor and felony cases, and continues to refuse to answer reporters questions.
He was forced to walk back parts of his new policy, including his stance that armed robberies would only be prosecuted as misdemeanors as long as there was no “genuine risk of harm” to anyone during them.
A spokesperson for Bragg said that reducing crime in Harlem is “personal” for the district attorney.
