N.Y. RAP DROPPED VS. MOM IN KID VID
Charges nixed amid rage at cop baby-grab
A Brooklyn mom's bizarre legal odyssey turned into a happy homecoming Tuesday when a judge ordered her sprung from a Rikers Island jail cell.
The ruling was the second legal triumph in just hours for Jazmine Headley, 23, restoring her freedom four days after cops forcibly yanked her 18month-old son from her arms — and placed her under arrest.
Charges of resisting arrest and endangering the welfare of a child were dropped against Headley stemming from her videotaped clash with police and security inside a Brooklyn social welfare office.
A borough judge then ordered her turned loose without bail from Rikers Island on an unrelated, outstanding New Jersey charge.
Headley was reunited with her boy Tuesday night in the Brooklyn home she shares with her mother.
“I'm just so grateful to everyone,” Headley told reporters before stepping inside. “And I'm just happy to be free, and I just need to see my boy.”
Headley, 23, landed in jail last Friday after her confrontation with police inside a crowded waiting room at the public benefits office. A video of the incident showed the officers forcefully removing the 18-month-old boy from his mother, setting off a firestorm of criticism that continued even after her legal status took a positive turn.
“Though the charges against Jazmine Headley have been dismissed, that does not change the fact that her arrest shouldn't have happened in the first place,” said Public Advocate Letitia James, New York's attorney general-elect. “We still need to have a fullscale investigation into what happened so that it never happens to another mother again.”
Mayor de Blasio's office reached out to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez about ending the prosecution of Headley, whose arrest became a cause célebre viewed worldwide via the internet.
“She and her baby have been traumatized … Continuing to pursue this case will not serve any purpose and I therefore moved to dismiss it immediately in the interest of justice,” said a statement from Gonzalez.
The dropped Brooklyn charges initially did nothing to fix the jailed Headley's plight, as she remained behind bars on Rikers Island over an outstanding misdemeanor credit card theft warrant from Mercer County, N.J.
Attorneys from Brooklyn Defender Services went to Brooklyn Supreme Court in an effort to get the New Jersey charges dropped. Instead, she was released on her own recognizance by Walker pending a Wednesday court appearance.
“What she has been through, the amount of time she has been in, this is the right thing to do,” said Brooklyn Judge Craig Walker. “She is released forthwith.”
Lisa Schreibersdorf, the head of the defender services, said Headley will be escorted to New Jersey for her scheduled court date.
“We are asking the Mercer (County), New Jersey, prosecutor's office to review these charges very carefully and consider dismissing these charges,” said Schreibersdorf. “She's been through enough. … We have rarely seen anything go as viral as this has gone.”