An accused cop shooter’s controversial bail was unceremoniously revoked today after prosecutors dug up a seedy, juvenile criminal past replete with violent incidents and flights from authority.
Former free man Elijah Foster-Bey was remanded after a Brooklyn judge yanked the $100,000 bail set in December after Foster-Bey was arrested for allegedly shooting and wounding Officer Ricardo Ramirez, who stopped him for questioning as he rode his bicycle in East New York.
Ramirez, still recovering from the wound that pierced an artery in his right leg, sat inthe front row of a Brooklyn courtroom and cheered with nearly 50 other cops as Foster-Bey was blindsided by the legal maneuver.
Ramirez was shot after he and his partners on an anti-crime patrol stopped Foster-Bey, 17, who fled. Cops chased him into a Bradford Street building where he started shooting, wounding Ramirez twice in his upper right leg and damaging the femoral artery, officials said. A third round struck Ramirez’s protective vest.
The officers fired back 11 times, wounding Foster-Bey in his leg.
Despite the severity of the crime – a partner saved Ramirez’ life twice by applying a tourniquet and by rerouting the ambulance to the right hospital – Foster-Bey was released on $100,000 bail amid a multitude of opposition from law enforcement.
Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach had reasoned that bail is not be a punishment, and is only put in place to help guarantee a defendant’s return for trial.
But prosecutors unearthed Foster-Bey’s juvenile record which included an attempted assault, several parole violations and an unauthorized leave from one of the facilities.
“He has proven time and time again to have utter contempt for society and its rules,” said ADA Lewis Lieberman.
Foster-Bey’s lawyer, Dianne Muscatello, argued that there was no change in circumstances and that Foster-Bey, who had made all his court appearances, should remain free.
But the court was not convinced.
Supreme Court Justice Suzanne Mondo said Foster-Bey had a “powerful incentive to flee” after learning the suspect had been in defiance of other court orders.
“This is a very different picture than what was presented to Justice Reichbach,” Mondo said.
Ramirez declined to comment, but his colleagues couldn’t have been happier about the turn of events.
“The reality is if this mope would shoot a New York City police officer in a hallway, he would shoot any citizen on a street corner,” said PBA President Pat Lynch.