Back in October, a 17-year-old boy was indicted for attempted murder after he shot a plainclothes cop while being chased by officers in East New York. The teen, Elijah Foster-Bey, was released on bail the day before Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, the officer who was shot three times, Richard Ramirez, 29, has been laid up in the hospital recovering. He missed his Thanksgiving, and says his dream now is that he will be able to go home for Christmas. And he is furious that Foster-Bey got to celebrate the holiday he didn't get: "Obviously, we're not worth anything . . . I can't believe a judge would allow a criminal like that to go free," the injured officer told the Post.
The only person more mad than Ramirez is NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, who visits Ramirez regularly. "Bail should be revoked. A suspect who fled from police before shooting and almost killing Officer Ramirez should not be free while the officer still struggles to recover," a frustrated Kelly said. The Judge in the case, Gustin Reichbach, defended his decision, and said he was only following the law: "Any family of a crime victim is going to be distressed at anything that isn't seen as punishing the person accused of the wrongdoing," he said. "The purpose of bail is to ensure the defendant returns to court. It's not to express a sense of outrage about what a person has been accused of...It's not to punish."
Foster-Bey, who was working as a bicycle messenger when he was stopped by police on Oct. 17 for cycling on the sidewalk, said he ran from cops because had a gun on him...which doesn't quite explain why he thought it preferable to shoot at the cops with said gun. According to the Post, Foster-Bey "even whined on the social Web site about losing 50 pounds after getting hit four times during the gunfire exchange." Also according to his Facebook, he had "a good turkey day."
