A teenager accused in the knifepoint carjacking of an off-duty state trooper at a Yonkers gas station in April will no longer face criminal charges after his case was transferred to Family Court.
Westchester Judge Sheralyn Pulver ruled that the District Attorney's Office did not meet its burden of showing that extraordinary circumstances existed in the April 26 carjacking that should keep the case before her in the Youth Part of criminal court. She transferred the case on Friday, Aug. 7 and sealed the record.
But she admonished the 18-year-old, who was shot by the trooper as he drove her SUV away, saying she was convinced he had acted as charged and that his "conduct was reprehensible." She urged him to remember that he almost lost his life, to make
better choices and that her ruling was not a free pass to commit further crimes.
Association reacts to judge's decision to transfer case to Family Court
The transfer of the case was assailed by the president of the New York State Police Investigators Association, the union representing the trooper.
"Carjacking with a knife is not a status offense or a minor lapse in judgment," Kurt Labuda said in a statement over the weekend. "It is a violent crime that puts drivers, passengers, and bystanders at serious risk. When a case this serious is diverted to a system that cannot impose criminal penalties, it sends the wrong message to victims, to law enforcement, and to the public we serve."
What happened during the carjacking?
The 12-year veteran trooper, who was an investigator in New York City, had just finished pumping her gas at the Mobil station at Kimball and Midland avenues on April 26 when a person believed to be the teenaged suspect moved off a small wall he was sitting on, came around the back of the SUV and allegedly confronted her with a knife, according to video seen in April by The Journal News/lohud.
She tried getting into the driver's seat but he pushed her out. As the suspect closed the door, she reached to keep it open, the video showed. When he finally slammed the door on her, she reached for her gun, rushed back up to the car, stuck the gun into the partially open window and fired a shot.
The video shows the car drive off, causing the trooper to stumble back but not fall, and the SUV headed straight to the back of the property where there was no outlet. It plowed into a dumpster, shed and fence and dropped into the parking lot of a Midland Avenue apartment complex.
Although the bullet had struck his left arm and entered his torso, he managed to get out of the wrecked car and ran off onto Midland where he was arrested by Yonkers police a short time later. A knife was recovered.
An administrative review into the investigator's use of force is ongoing, a spokesman for the state police said Friday. The trooper has not been publicly identified.
What is next for teen at center of carjacking case?
Under Raise the Age criminal justice reform, because the teen was not yet 18 at the time and had not been armed with a loaded gun, prosecutors had to convince Pulver that there were extraordinary circumstances that should keep the case in the youth part of criminal court. After a hearing last week, she ruled against them and on Friday she sent the case to Family Court and sealed the criminal case.
Ronald Fischer, the teen's lawyer, said part of the prosecution's unavailing argument was that the carjacking had forced the trooper to use her gun, thereby escalating the situation. He said they also referenced a previous gun arrest his client had in the Bronx, a case which is pending in Family Court there.
He said in that case his client had picked up a gun that someone who accosted him dropped and gone into a school to get away from his assailant.
He argued a pending Family Court matter shouldn't have been relevant in the carjacking case. And as for the trooper’s use of the gun, she was not in danger of being hit by the car so her decision to fire at the suspect was her doing not his client’s.
The case in Westchester Family Court will be handled by the County Attorney's Office and the teen could still face probation and community service but would not be subject to a criminal conviction or prison time.
Labuda said there were appropriate times for "rehabilitative approaches to juvenile offending." But not in cases like armed carjackings. He said the risk of handling such cases in Family Court is that young people and the public would then believe there is "little real consequence" to committing those crimes.
"We are not asking for vengeance," he said. "We are asking for a justice system that matches its response to the seriousness of the offense, so that both victims and the public can trust that violent crime will be treated as what it is."
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester judge moves teen carjacking suspect's case to family court
