Commish didn’t ‘get’ the memo?
DA: NYPD confused
DA Alvin Bragg Monday said that NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell misread his controversial memo to prosecutors about downgrading certain felonies and no longer seeking bail or prison time in most cases.
During a radio interview, Bragg said that his 10-page “Day One” memo “was intended for, you know, our, our internal lawyer audience” — even though his office blasted it out in an e-mailed press release touting his policies last week.
Bragg also said that he and Sewell had communicated “by text” this past weekend and would be meeting soon to hash out their differences.
“We’re gonna sit down this week with our teams,” he said on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show.”
A rep for the District Attorney’s Office said that they “look forward to the opportunity to clear up some misunderstandings.”
In a Friday e-mail to cops, Sewell said she was “very concerned” about the impact of Bragg’s policies on “your safety as police officers” and “the safety of the public.”
During his radio interview, Bragg insisted that he would take a hard line on crimes committed with guns, calling them “serious and significant.”
But Bragg said he wanted to differentiate those cases from others that involve “dangerous instruments,” which he said under the state penal law could be “something . . . like a pork chop.”
Bragg also said a friend from high school had reached out to ask if he wouldn’t prosecute someone who “punches a police officer.”
“And the answer is: Of course not. Of course, that’s not OK,” he said.
“What I did say is: You know, there are times when the only charge is resisting arrest. And I know from my youth growing up in Harlem, that, you know, when that only charge is resisting arrest, it begs the question: Well, what was the, what was the first stop for?”
Resisting arrest is among a number of crimes Bragg will prosecute only if there’s another underlying charge.
He added: “When the only charge is, you know, someone may have stiffened up their arms or something like that, when [they’re] going to be handcuffed and I, I can’t be told from the officer, they can’t tell me what the actual arrest was for — to me, that’s, you know, intuitive and makes sense and it’s a pretty narrow category.”