The hits just keep coming.
A madmanâs five-minute reign of terror in lower Manhattan was just the warmup act for a revolving-door justice system that let him right back out to strike again, a terrified victim told The Post.
The scrambled stranger punched a 28-year-old woman on Fulton Street near Water Street in lower Manhattan last month, then attacked two other women within five minutes before he was arrested, released and then allegedly went on to sock an 85-year-old man in the face the next day, the first victim told The Post.
âThis is the most insane story ever,â said the woman, who works in finance and asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety. âIâm walking and Iâm on my phone and then all of a sudden I hear this guy shout âWatch out!ââ
She looked up in time to see the gaunt-looking, bald repeat-offender — later identified as Christopher Tarrant — about to punch her in the face. She dodged his fist, but it landed like a ton of bricks on her shoulder instead.
She called cops while following Tarrant, and allegedly saw him throw a glass bottle at an older woman and then punch another woman walking near the South Street Seaport, she said.
Police arrested Tarrant, but to her shock, the 24-year-old was charged only with misdemeanor assault for allegedly slugging her, she said. The two other women didn’t stick around to file complaints, but she gave police the phone number of the other woman he struck.
Police officers canât take a crime complaint without a victim, an NYPD spokesman said.
A Manhattan judge released Tarrant the next day because the misdemeanor charge wasnât bail eligible under woke, Democrat-pushed 2019 reform laws, court records show.
A day later, he found another random victim in Hell’s Kitchen and allegedly kicked the elderly man in the legs until he fell, then punched him twice in the face, according to the Manhattan District Attorneyâs Office. This time, Tarrant was hit with a felony assault charge because his victim was over 65.
Prosecutors sought $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond, but New York City Criminal Court Judge Jeffrey Gershuny freed him on supervised release.
The liberal jurist appointed by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2019 has been soft on crime in the past.
Last year, the judge freed the dapper “Burberry Bandit” Cornell Neillydespite 34 prior arrests for bank robbery and the fact that he was on parole when he allegedly robbed five banks between Aug. 16 and Sept. 13 from Greenwich Village to Central Park South, records show.
Neilly, 35, was let go on supervised release by Gershuny, who ignored prosecutorsâ request for $50,000 cash bail or $150,000 bond.
Gershuny was also censured last year for pulling out his firearm in a Brooklyn courtroom during a “little experiment” into whether a cop could detect a gun.
Now, the 28-year-old victim is on constant alert when she walks around in the neighborhood where she lives and works, she said.
âWe walk around and we expect to not feel like weâre in danger all the time whether itâs at night or during the day,â she said, voicing her disappointment with the criminal justice system. âAnd when the people hired to protect us don’t really step into the full role of their responsibilities itâs really scary.â
Retired NYPD Detective Michael Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the cops could have investigated the other assaults without the victims.
“Non-cooperative victims should not prevent police from charging the perp with additional charges because it was definitely a pattern asault crime,” Alcazar said. “They could have and should have charged multiple assaults based on this pattern.”
He also blamed the judge.
“Dangerousness is the missing variable, and when judges ignore it the public pays the price,” Alcazar said. “Judges should be held more accountable to make sure they too are doing their due diligence.”
Felony assault is up 14% in the NYPD’s 1st Precinct, which covers Soho, Tribecca and Wall Street, with 151 so far this year from 133 last year, according to NYPD data.
Tarrant’s public defender didn’t return a call seeking comment.
The post NYC madman arrested twice for attacking 4 women over 2-day period — walks free both times: ‘Most insane story ever’ appeared first on New York Post.
