A violent, one-legged shoplifting suspect who police call a “known criminal” beat two Upper East Side CVS employees with “makeshift brass knuckles,” then assaulted and peed on the two NYPD officers who ultimately subdued and arrested him on the sidewalk this week, has been released by a judge without bail, police and prosecutors confirmed to Upper East Site.
Wild video recorded by a bystander and obtained by Upper East Site shows two cops from the NYPD’s 19th Precinct working to restrain the one-legged suspect — identified by police as 41-year-old Eutano Barnard — Wednesday afternoon on East 86th Street.
In the video, the suspect is seen hitting an officer with a lock and kicking at him with his leg, before the other officer uses her baton to knock the lock out of his hand.
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Then, the suspect pulls down his pants, exposing himself in broad daylight, and begins urinating straight up in the air, apparently trying to pee on the cops trying to take him into custody.
Police say it began around 12:50 pm Wednesday afternoon when Barnard was spotted inside the CVS located at 1294 Lexington Avenue, at the corner of East 87th Street, swiping $65 worth Red Bull drinks and Master locks from the store, trying to hide the pilfered products in a backpack, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
When two CVS employees, a woman and a man, spotted the shoplifting in progress tried to to stop him from leaving they got socked in the face with a Master lock wrapped around his fingers, used as “makeshift brass knuckles,” prosecutors said, adding that the two officers who were flagged down by the CVS employees also got pummeled by the suspect.
“The defendant then left the CVS and when [police officers] alerted and tried to stop him, he did the same thing to them — punching each of them in the face/head with the master lock still woven between his fingers,” said Assistant District Attorney Evan Rufrano during Barnard’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday.
“Even back up officers arrived, the defendant continued to resist arrest,” ADA Rufrano added.
The officers were taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center with minor injuries, the Upper East Side CVS workers refused medical attention at the scene.
At his arraignment, prosecutors requested Barnard be held in jail on $20,000 bail, noting the amount of violence inflicted by the suspect in such a short period and the likelihood he wouldn’t show up back in court.
“Based on the fact that the defendant injured four different people in such a short amount of time and that he is facing mandatory prison time if convicted on the top count, the People believe that the defendant has an incentive to flee,” ADA Rufrano said.
Despite a long list of charges including multiple felony counts of robbery, assault and weapon possession, the judge granted Barnard supervised release with a court date scheduled January 31st.
Barnard, whose address is listed as a shelter in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was arrested again Thursday night on the Upper East Side, after investigators say he attacked a 68-year-old woman and threatened to push her down a flight of stairs.
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“He’s been a repeat customer for a while now,” a law enforcement source told Upper East Site, explaining that Barnard had just picked up his property from the 19th Precinct station house, then went to the nearby 68th Street-Lexington Avenue subway station where he assaulted the woman.
Investigators say just before 10:00 pm on Thursday, the suspect struck the victim multiple times on her right knee with his crutch as she was walking down the stairs into the station. The 68-year-old was taken to a hospital for treatment, police said.
Cops were able quickly locate the suspect and put him in cuffs once again. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be held with bail this time around.
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Freed without bail?? How many more people is he going to hurt or possibly kill before a decent judge denies him bail and throws him in prison for the rest of his life?