'Blood on hands' of NYC pols
Set free after repeat attacks on hosp staff
Slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley might still be alive if it weren’t for sanctuary city policies pushed by ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio and left-wing extremists on the City Council — who have “blood on their hands,” critics told The Post.
Nearly six months before the Riley (right), 22, was found dead Feb. 22 on the University of Georgia’s campus, her alleged killer Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was arrested in Queens on Aug. 31 and charged with endangering a child.
However, because of changes to the city policy in 2014 and 2017 by de Blasio and thenCouncil Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, the NYPD had no choice but to cut the Venezuela-born Ibarra loose — instead of turning him over to federal immigration officials — because he didn’t have any major crime convictions.
“Any laws that protect criminals at the expense of New Yorkers must be repealed,” said Queens Councilman Robert Holden (lower inset).
Immigration and Customs Enforcement “was formed as a result of what occurred during 9/11, and preventing local law enforcement from communicating with the feds is lunacy,” the Democrat said. “The nursing student in Georgia would be alive today if we weren’t a sanctuary city, and the blood is on the hands of Bill de Blasio and Melissa Mark-Viverito.”
Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (upper inset) said there’s a good chance Riley’s death could have been avoided.
“I can’t be certain that Ibarra would have been detained and deported, but I can say for certain that he wasn’t because of a series of laws the previous City
Council and de Blasio signed into law,” said Borelli (R-SI).
De Blasio disputed that the NYPD had previously encountered Ibarra, but said that “it’s sickening that a young, promising life was cut short.”
“Any way you slice it, we need tougher border policies and comprehensive immigration reform,” he said.
Mark-Viverito said she remains proud of the legislation and that Holden is “unfamiliar with the law and how it works.”
Both Holden and Borelli said they will introduce bills to repeal the sanctuary city rules.
An unhinged madman with a long rap sheet is allegedly targeting female doctors and nurses in The Bronx — with at least four attacks over the past five years, The Post has learned.
Edward Johnson, 57, an illegal immigrant believed to be from the Caribbean who came to the United States more than a decade ago, has been arrested 23 times on charges that include gun possession, according to sources and records. He has another 42 arrests that have been sealed since he arrived in the US.
He skipped out on supervised release and is on the lam, authorities said — and has a dangerous habit of attacking female healthcare workers who try to treat him.
“Every time he goes to the hospital, he beats up a nurse or a doctor,” said an NYPD source.
He has logged four such assaults at three Bronx hospitals since 2019, sources said, and a repeat victim is Dr. Colleen Leahy, an emergency room physician at St. Barnabas. She told cops she was attacked by him in July 2022 and again last September.
“I’m afraid every day at work — every day,” said Leahy, 28, who has lost 20 pounds since the September beating because of the anxiety she feels over his impending return.
Long rap sheet
And her mom is terrified, too. “I’m afraid my daughter will become the next Laken Riley,” said Eileen Leahy, referring to the Georgia nursing student who allegedly was murdered by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, six months after authorities released him following a child-endangered arrest in Queens.
The hospital attacks date back to December 2019, when Johnson was arrested on assault charges for punching a 45-year-old female doctor in the mouth and a 61year-old female nurse in the chest at Albert Einstein Hospital in Morris Park.
His last arrest was Jan. 13 at Jacobi Medical Center in Pelham Gardens, for allegedly socking a 26-year-old nurse in the eye after she tried to take his blood pressure, police sources said. The unidentified nurse suffered a bruised, swollen eye, and Johnson was slapped with assault charges.
After he skipped authorities by not complying with his supervised release, a warrant for his arrest was issued last month. Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, said the case is currently being presented to a grand jury to secure an indictment against Johnson.
Johnson first allegedly attacked Leahy at St. Barnabas on July 16, 2022, while the ER doctor — only two months on the job — was trying to care for him. He punched her in the right eye, severely bruising it, authorities say.
He refused to give his name to cops, but he was ultimately charged with second-degree assault and injuring a healthcare worker. He spent eight months behind bars — but the details of his release remain unclear.
Leahy said an assistant district attorney working for Clark called her in April 2023 and explained the office wouldn’t take the case to trial because it did not want to “hurt [Johnson’s] immigration status” and believed his eight months served as a detainee was enough.
However, O’Shaughnessy insisted Johnson’s immigration status didn’t play a role in the decision.
She said he copped a plea deal to the lesser charge of attempted assault — which meant no additional jail time — only after Leahy declined to pursue the case further in court. She also said Leahy was granted an order of protection against Johnson that remains in effect.
Yet on Sept. 18, 2023, Johnson returned to St. Barnabas and allegedly kicked Leahy in the head while she and a male co-worker tried to inject a needle in his arm, authorities said. Leahy also claimed he assaulted a female nurse at the hospital hours earlier.
No arrest was made, but Leahy filed a police report two days later documenting her attack, which she said left her with headaches, according to NYPD sources.
“It’s infuriating that he keeps doing this to healthcare workers — especially women — and then is let go,” Leahy said. “They had him in custody multiple times, so why is he being let go to attack other people, other healthcare workers?”