It’s beyond the ‘bail’
Council demands probe after 'RFK' springs 'attacker'
City Council members are calling for an immediate investigation in the wake of a charity organization’s bailout from Rikers of a violent inmate caught on video punching a guard just days before he was freed.
Rickeem Parker, 18, was in Rikers awaiting trial for an alleged September assault when he pummeled a guard there (right) on Oct. 5. He had yet to be charged in the incident when, just one week later, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights foundation posted the $1,500 bail to get him sprung.
Parker has been arrested eight times. Local politicians are outraged he was allowed to walk free without any charges over the guard attack.
“It boggles the mind how someone who has this many priors and then proceeds to assault a correction officer viciously could be bailed out by the RFK Human Rights foundation and released just one week after this incident,” Queens Councilmember Robert Holden wrote in a letter to the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice signed by eight other councilmen.
“Why was there no oversight by MOCJ or the DOC? We must address this now before it gets to a point where someone is gravely injured, or worse killed.”
Video shows Parker pummeling Correction Officer Bronoski Jean-Phillippe, and even hurling a trash can at the guard, during the incident last month.
Parker was in jail for allegedly beating up straphanger Samuel Scott, 43, at a Queens subway station after Scott asked him to stop blocking an escalator.
Scott was not happy to learn last week that RFK had bailed Parker.
“It’s like giving someone a free pass to destroy other people,” Scott told The Post at the time. “We cannot have people out there like this. It is terrible.”
Parker is one of an untold number of jailbirds let loose by the Kennedy charity.
Starting in October, the foundation began a controversial bid to bail out all women and teens from Rikers Island — regardless of inmates’ records or the charges against them.
The mayor, police commissioner and several district attorneys publicly questioned the wisdom of such a plan, but RFK defiantly pushed on.
And the scheme has been plagued with problems — including the release of several inmates who were issued bench warrants because they never bothered to show up for court after they got sprung.
MOCJ has “absolutely zero input into who the RFK Foundation chose to bail out,” according to City Hall spokeswoman Natalie Grybauskas.
“The Mayor takes this incident very seriously. It is still under investigation and could very well result in an arrest,” she said.
“But we can’t keep someone in jail on the speculation of a future arrest. And we can’t prevent someone from legally paying their bail, which is set by a judge.”
The Department of Correction said it is investigating the incident.
“The City Council is awaiting a full investigation of this particular case,” said a spokesman for Council Speaker Corey Johnson. “Our priority is always that inmates and staff at correctional facilities are safe.”
Holden’s letter was also signed by Councilmembers Joe Borelli, Mark Gjonaj, Steven Matteo, Andy King, Peter Koo, Paul Vallone, Kalman Yeger and Eric Ulrich.