NYPD arrests man connected to attack on 92-year-old woman
A career criminal with more than 100 arrests to his name was busted for cruelly shoving a 92-year-old woman into a Manhattan fire hydrant.
The man who randomly attacked a 92-year-old woman in New York City is a serial offender who was on the streets after he only received appearance tickets for his last three arrests, law enforcement sources told Fox News.
Rashid Brimmage, 31, is a registered sex offender who has been arrested 103 times, including for allegedly sexually abusing a 13-year-old. But he was given a court date for his three most recent arrests instead rather than be held in police custody until arraignment.
He was busted most recently on Tuesday and charged with assault against the 92-year-old woman, whom he shoved on the afternoon of June 12 in the Manhattan neighborhood of Gramercy.
MAN ACCUSED OF SHOVING ELDERLY NYC WOMAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED OVER 100 TIMES
The victim, who identified herself to the New York Post as "Geraldine," was hospitalized and is now on the mend, but told the Post the random attack has left her "shaken."
"My head still hurts where it was bleeding, where I hit the hydrant — or where he hit me, I don’t know,” she told the outlet. “Mainly it’s psychological — just the fear of going out on the street...This damned guy put me in a state where I’m fearful to walk the streets alone."
Brimmage is due to appear before a judge later Wednesday, when bail will be set. But this year alone, he's been arrested at least three other times, a law enforcement source said.
He was previously nabbed on March 5, Feb. 17 and Feb. 4, each time for assault, among other charges, but was given a DAT every time, according to sources and criminal reports.
NYC WOMAN, 92, SHOVED TO THE GROUND, VIDEO SHOWS; SUSPECT ARRESTED
When a person is taken into police custody he or she is typically either arrested and held until they can appear before a judge, who then sets bail terms, or is given a desk appearance ticket, otherwise known as a DAT, to return to court at a later date.
But even Brimmage’s status as a registered sex offender would likely not be taken into account when issuing a DAT, a former high-ranking police source told Fox News.
“In general, if it’s a misdemeanor, you get a DAT and it’s regardless of your past criminal history,” the source said. “Your past criminal history is not a determinant factor in if you get a DAT or not, and if you’re a registered sex offender, that’s not a determinant factor in if you get a DAT or not.”
As part of New York’s bail reform laws that took effect on Jan. 1 of this year, law enforcement must issue a DAT if the defendant is being charged with most misdemeanor offenses and even certain kinds of felonies, according to the Center for Court Innovation.
As the center’s report on “Bail Reform in New York” explains, there are certain exceptions, such as sex offenses and domestic violence cases or those in which an order of protection will likely be issued, among others.
Ten of Brimmage’s 65 unsealed arrests were for sex crimes, largely forcible touching, sex abuse and public lewdness, a different police source said. Five of those instances involved Brimmage allegedly groping or touching his victims – one of whom was only 13 years old, the source said.
Brimmage was arrested and charged with persistent sexual abuse after he rubbed his groin against a 13-year-old girl in the Bronx on June 5, 2019, a different police source said. Additional details regarding the results of the case were not immediately available, but the second source called Brimmage “a total menace.”
"It's just crazy that he got those DATs in this year alone, with the arrest record that he holds,” the source said. “That's just unbelievable to me.”
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An NYPD spokesperson told Fox News: "It’s deeply concerning that an individual with a penchant for unprovoked violence and a history of victimizing the most vulnerable continues to walk the streets of New York City despite a lengthy arrest record."
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