A police officer who had been assigned to the unit that provides security at City Hall and Gracie Mansion was indicted on Thursday for attempted murder after prosecutors said he shot and critically wounded a man while off-duty who he believed had been involved in stealing his personal car.
The officer, Jonathan Baez, took it upon himself in March to investigate the theft of his car, according to prosecutors. Surveillance video showed a white Hyundai Genesis had been connected to the theft, they said. Officer Baez’s search led him to confront a man in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx, ordering him to the ground at gunpoint, they said.
While straddling the man, Officer Baez fired two shots into a vehicle parked nearby that looked like the car on the surveillance video, striking a 30-year-old man in the head, prosecutors said. As of Thursday, the injured man remains on a ventilator. Prosecutors said they have no evidence that the man who was shot was involved in the theft.
Officer Baez, who has been with the New York Police Department for 12 years, was off-duty when the shooting occurred. He has been suspended without pay and the department’s Force Investigation Division referred the case to the Bronx district attorney’s office, according to a representative.
On Thursday, Officer Baez was arraigned in Bronx Supreme Court on multiple charges, including two counts of second-degree attempted murder, kidnapping and official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail.
“Police officers are sworn to serve and protect the public, and even when they are off duty, they are expected to conduct themselves with integrity,” said Darcel Clark, the Bronx district attorney.
For Officer Baez, the search for his car, a 2024 Honda CRV, began on March 14 when it was stolen from his apartment building, prosecutors said. Surveillance footage showed a white Hyundai Genesis had been connected to the theft, they said.
Over the next two days, the officer ran more than 200 unauthorized searches in department databases in an effort to find his car and the Hyundai, prosecutors said, including the license plate reader database.
Officer Baez’s lawyer, Mark Bederow, said that prosecutors acknowledged in court on Thursday that his client had called the police before the confrontation.
“I would suggest that the narrative that this is some kind of renegade, vigilante, justice is inaccurate,” Mr. Bederow said. “Most vigilantes don’t inform the police before the conduct that is alleged here.”
As of Thursday, prosecutors said the officer’s car had still not been found.
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