A New York City man who brutally beat a homeless man with a baseball bat has been released from jail on a shockingly low bail, as the city continues to suffer from soft-on-crime policies.
Karim Azizi, 36, was arrested and charged with assault, attempted assault, and criminal possession of a weapon on Wednesday. On the same day he was charged, he was released from jail after posting just $7,500 bail.
Azizi’s crime was caught on video, which went viral on social media — as he was seen attacking a 47-year-old homeless man from behind, hitting him over the head with a baseball bat, which he pulled out of his pants. The crime took place on Tuesday at Amsterdam Avenue and West 148th Street in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.
Meet Karim Azizi, a NYC Manhattan man arrested over a caught-on-video assault in which he allegedly pulled a baseball bat from his pants and hit a man on the street in the back of the head. pic.twitter.com/jVnkShexBb
— Satyaagrah (@satyaagrahindia) December 9, 2022
The victim sustained several injuries from the attack, including “bleeding about the face and head, swelling about the back of the head, and a laceration about the front of the head,” according to an arrest affidavit reported on by the New York Post. The man was transported to a hospital in Harlem, where he was reported to be in stable condition.
A police source told the New York Post that Azizi and the victim were in a verbal altercation prior to the attack.
While the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office requested Azizi’s bail to be set at $40,000, a judge decided to set it at just $7,500 — which allowed the suspect to post bail and walk free on the same day he was charged.
New York City’s recent crime wave has led to a call from city officials for a “dangerousness” clause to be added to the state’s No Bail law — giving judges added discretion to be able to keep violent offenders in jail, according to Fox 5. This measure has been endorsed by Democrat Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Azizi’s lawyer has criticized those who are advocating for the clause, falsely claiming: “Ninety-nine percent of people who bail out… they make every court date, they never commit another crime again, in their lives, especially while they’re out on bail.”
His claims are blatantly untrue, as data has revealed that 4 in 10 suspects that were freed from jail between January 2020 and January 2021 thanks to New York’s No Bail law were rearrested. The bail reform measure, which went into effect in 2020, eliminated cash bail for numerous crimes.
This past weekend, a teen in NYC assaulted a NYPD officer and was then set free.
Just a few days before, he was set free under cashless bail despite felony robbery charges.
This system is broken. NY must end cashless bail and institute a dangerousness standard ASAP!
— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) July 27, 2022
While this particular case was not an instance of the suspect paying no bail at all, the judge has been slammed for setting Azizi’s bail at such a low figure for a suspect accused of a violent crime.
Speaking with Fox 5, Michael Alcazar — a former NYPD detective who served on the force for 30 years — stated that “$7,500 cash bail is really low.”
“We caught him, we arrested him. We processed him, they release him, It’s just insanity,” he added.
“This is a dangerous person. You’re carrying around a weapon, like a bat, a knife, a gun, you’re a bad guy and you should stay in jail until the judge sees fit to impose whatever time you’re going to get,” Alcazar continued.
According to Fox News, Azizi is set to appear in court again on Monday.
