Jazmine Headley Will Be Released From Rikers, Judge Rules

BOERUM HILL, BROOKLYN — The calls of those who rallied for Jazmine Headley Tuesday on the steps of City Hall seem to have been answered, at least partially. The mother will be released from Rikers Island, where she was held since her now-viral arrest on Friday, a judge ruled Tuesday afternoon.

Brooklyn Defender Services, the group representing Headley, announced that Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Craig Walker granted their motion to have her released on her own recognizance. The nonprofit's executive director, Lisa Schreibersdorf, argued Headley's case in court Tuesday, one day before she would be taken to New Jersey on the unrelated charge that held her in jail.

"We are very happy to have. critical step toward justice for Jazmine Headley, as she will soon be released from Rikers following the judge's granting our application for her release," Schreibersdorf said.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez had dropped the case against Headley from her Friday arrest, where NYPD yanked her 1-year-old from her arms after after the cops were called on her for sitting on the floor of a Fort Greene social services office. She had been charged with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, criminal trespass andacting in a manner injurious to a child.

A protective order barring Headley from seeing her son was also lifted Tuesday.

But, Headley was still being held in jail for a charge from New Jersey, which NJ.com reported was based on her failure to appear in court for a 2016 credit card fraud case.

Brooklyn Defender Services said the next step will be working to have prosecutors in Mercer County, N.J. drop the charges against Headley.

The decision comes hours after politicians and supporters rallied on the steps of New York City Hall chanting "release her now."

"(She should be) released and released today,"said Attorney General-elect Letitia James. "The answer to this should not have been the police, the answer to this should have been a chair."

Releasing Headley was still only part of what protesters called for, though.

Many speakers pointed to Headley's case as an example of police violence against people of color and for the need for reform in the NYPD's policies or city agencies such as Human Resources Administration. Majority Leader City Council member Laurie Cumbo, for one, called for the officers to "at the least" be fired.

"We don't want some bogus investigation that's going to tell us we didn't see what we saw in the video," she said. "We saw the video, everybody saw the video."

Others, including James, said the HRA officers should be held equally, if not more, responsible for the incident. Two HRA officers have already been placed on leave for the incident and will be on "modified duty" when they return.

"It did not get to that point without HRA personnel and security escalating this matter," James said.

Both the police commissioner and Social Services Department commissioner have said they are investigating the incident.

Photo by Anna Quinn/Patch.