That sure was some fancy footwork by Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes on Thursday — as he tried to acquit himself of having helped free accused cop-killer Lamont Pride in an unrelated case last month.
Too bad for Hynes: He only dug the hole deeper.
The fact remains: Had the Brooklyn DA and Criminal Court Judge Evelyn Laporte managed to keep Pride on ice, Police Officer Peter Figoski — a 47-year-old single father of four girls — might be alive today.
As this page noted explicitly on Tuesday.
In trying to defend his office’s record, Hynes said he wouldn’t blame the judge for the fatal mistake. How gracious.
Nonetheless, he went right ahead and laid the decision to release Pride — no bail required — at the judge’s feet.
“I’m not going to criticize her,” Hynes said — just seconds after he insisted it was the judge who “ultimately made the decision” to let the ex-con walk.
Laporte trusted Pride to return for a hearing a week later, even though she knew he was already on the run from the authorities in North Carolina — in a case that involved a shooting, no less.
“She didn’t think that bail was appropriate,” Hynes said. “We strenuously disagreed.”
That’s Hynes’ story, anyway.
The truth? A court transcript shows nary a word of disagreement — let alone strenuous objection — from Hynes’ Assistant DA Evan Degrees after Laporte refused to set bail. And when we asked Hynes’ spokesman, Jerry Schmetterer, about that, he simply refused to answer.
Plus, Hynes & Co. requested bail to be set at a scant $2,500. An accused shooter likely to flee shouldn’t walk free for any amount, let alone such a paltry sum.
Yes, Judge Laporte bears much of the blame for turning loose a violent ex-con — one she knew was wanted in a shooting and who’d already proven he was a flight risk by high-tailing it out of North Carolina.
Never mind all that irrelevant talk of how the warrant had called for extradition “only” within that state, before it was upgraded later. Fact is, Laporte was told point-blank about the warrant and the shooting.
Anyway, as Mayor Bloomberg said, if she had any questions, she could have picked up the phone — holding Pride behind bars, that is, until all matters were resolved.
She didn’t. An enormous tragedy ensued.
But Hynes is culpable, too.
Both his office and Laporte erred grievously setting a high-risk thug free.
Figoski is to be buried Monday. RIP.