BRONX MAN INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF TWO POLICE OFFICERS

 

Shootout Between Defendant and Officers Left Both Cops Wounded

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been indicted for Attempted Murder in the first degree and additional charges for opening fire at two NYPD Officers last November.

 District Attorney Clark said, “Two uniformed NYPD Police Officers approached the defendant after responding to a 911 call about a man with a gun. The defendant allegedly pulled out a pistol and fired multiple shots at the Officers, and one of them returned fire, wounding the defendant. During the incident, one Officer was wounded in the arm and the other was wounded in the chest. Thankfully, the injuries the Officers sustained were not life-threatening and they are expected to fully recover.”

 District Attorney Clark said Charlie Vasquez, 23, of Featherbed Lane, was arraigned today on two counts of Attempted Murder in the first degree, two counts of Attempted Murder in the second degree, two counts of Attempted Aggravated Assault Upon a Police Officer, two counts of Attempted Assault in the first degree, two counts of second-degree Assault, first-degree Criminal Use of a Firearm, second-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon, Criminal Possession of a Firearm, and second-degree Obstructing Governmental Administration before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Albert Lorenzo. Remand was continued and the defendant is due back in court on April 22, 2022.

 According to the investigation, on November 24, 2021, at approximately 8:06 p.m., uniformed NYPD Police Officers Robert Holmes and Alejandra Jacobs of the 48th Precinct, responded to a 911 call about a man with a gun at 2405 Beaumont Avenue. When they got to the location, they approached Vasquez, who was sitting on the stoop. The defendant allegedly took out a pistol and fired six shots at the cops, wounding Officer Jacobs in the arm. Officer Holmes struggled with the defendant in attempt to restrain him, and Officer Jacobs shot at the defendant. Two other Police Officers responding to the scene rushed to the wounded cops’ aid and assisted in restraining Vasquez. During the exchange of gunfire, Officer Holmes was shot once in the chest. The Officers were taken to a local hospital where they were treated and released. The defendant was shot several times and is expected to make a full recovery.

 District Attorney Clark also thanked Captain Eileen Downing, Lieutenant Anthony Corrado, Sergeant Bruno Pomponio, Detective Nathaniel Jeffers and Detective Jonathan Bradlin, all of the Force Investigations Division; as well as Detective Matthew Janisch of the NYPD Crime Scene Unit, for their assistance.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - JANUARY 24, 2022

 

Cases Per 100k (7-Day Average) Declining in All Regions

Total COVID-19 Hospitalizations Decreased by Nearly 2,000 Over Past Week

133 COVID-19 Deaths Statewide Yesterday

 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19.    

"Our hard work to bring down the numbers during the winter surge is paying off, but we are not through this yet," Governor Hochul said. "Let's keep using the tools - the vaccine, booster and masks - that will help slow the spread of this virus, protect our families, and keep our schools and businesses open."    

Today's data is summarized briefly below: 

• Test Results Reported – 143,388
• Total Positive – 12,259
• Percent Positive – 8.55%
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive – 10.00%
• Patient Hospitalization – 9,798 (-49)
• Patients Newly Admitted – 927
• Patients in ICU – 1479 (+22)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation – 838 (-7)
• Total Discharges – 265,172 (+904)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS – 133
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS – 51,987

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.     

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC – 64,872  

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.     

• Total vaccine doses administered – 35,507,187
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours – 40,547
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days – 473,583
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose – 90.6%   
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series – 81.7%   
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) – 95.0%   
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) – 84.2%   
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose – 79.8%   
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series – 71.4%   
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) – 87.0%   
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) – 73.6% 

Attorney General James Announces $600,000 Agreement with EyeMed After 2020 Data Breach

 

New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a $600,000 agreement with EyeMed that resolves a 2020 data breach that compromised the personal information of approximately 2.1 million consumers nationwide, including 98,632 in New York state. EyeMed — which provides vision benefits to members of vision plans offered by both licensed underwriters and employers — experienced a data breach in which attackers gained access to an EyeMed email account with sensitive customer information. The compromised information included consumers’ names, mailing addresses, Social Security numbers, identification numbers for health and vision insurance accounts, medical diagnoses and conditions, and medical treatment information. The intrusion permitted the attacker access to emails and attachments with sensitive customer information dating back six years prior to the attack. 

“New Yorkers should have every assurance that their personal health information will remain private and protected,” said Attorney General James. “EyeMed betrayed that trust by failing to keep an eye on its own security system, which in turn compromised the personal information of millions of individuals. Let this agreement signal our continued commitment to holding companies accountable and ensuring that they are looking out for New Yorkers’ best interest. My office continues to actively monitor the state for any potential violations, and we will continue to do everything in our power to protect New Yorkers and their personal information.”

Background on the Attack

In June 2020, attacker(s) gained access to an EyeMed email account, which was used by EyeMed clients to provide sensitive consumer data in connection with vision benefits enrollment and coverage. The intrusion, which lasted approximately a week, granted the attacker the ability to view emails and attachments dating back six years, including consumers’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and insurance account numbers.

In July 2020, the attacker sent approximately 2,000 phishing emails from the compromised email account to EyeMed clients, seeking login credentials for their accounts. EyeMed’s IT department noticed the phishing emails and also received inquiries from clients about these emails. EyeMed then blocked the attacker’s access to its system and began investigating the intrusion.

In September 2020, the company began notifying affected consumers whose personal information was compromised during the breach. With the notification, the company offered affected customers with identity theft protection services. The Office of the Attorney General determined that, at the time of the attack, EyeMed had failed to implement multifactor authentication (MFA) for the affected email account, despite the fact that the account was accessible via a web browser and contained a large volume of consumers’ sensitive personal information. Additionally, EyeMed failed to adequately implement sufficient password management requirements for the enrollment email account given that it was accessible via a web browser and contained a large volume of sensitive personal information. The company also failed to maintain adequate logging of its email accounts, which made it difficult to investigate security incidents.

In total, the breach affected approximately 2.1 million U.S. residents, including 98,632 in New York.

Terms of the Agreement

As part of the agreement, EyeMed is required to enact a series of measures to protect consumers’ personal information from cyberattacks in the future, including:

·        Maintaining a comprehensive information security program that includes regular updates to keep pace with changes in technology and security threats, as well as regularly reporting to the company's leadership any security risks;

·        Maintaining reasonable account management and authentication, including requiring the use of multi-factor authentication for all administrative or remote access accounts, and reviewing such safeguards annually;

·        Encrypting sensitive consumer information that it collects, stores, transmits and/or maintains;

·        Conducting a reasonable penetration testing program designed to identify, assess, and remediate security vulnerabilities within the EyeMed network;

·        Implementing and maintaining appropriate logging and monitoring of network activity that are accessible for a period of at least 90 days and stored for at least one year from the date the activity was logged; and

·        Permanently deleting consumers’ personal information when there is no reasonable business or legal purpose to retain it.

EyeMed has also agreed to pay the state of New York $600,000 in penalties.

Statement from NYGOP Chairman Nick Langworthy on the So-Called “Independent” Redistricting Commission’s Abdication of Their Duties

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January 24, 2022

“This commission has been a sham since day one when Democrats totally co-opted the process. They made clear they had no interest in working in a bipartisan manner to draw lines that were in the best interest of New Yorkers. It’s painfully obvious that their crooked plan was always to sabotage the work of the commission and put the power back in the hands of Democrat leaders in the legislature who are starving for even more power. We’re looking at all our legal options.” 

NYIC Action - NY’s Redistricting Commission Failed, Is Albany Ready to Produce Fair District Maps?

 

Albany Legislators Solely Responsible for Creating Fair and Representative Maps   This morning, the NY Independent Redistricting Commission announced it would not meet the January 25 deadline to send a final set of proposed district maps to the NYS legislature. Earlier this month, Albany legislators voted down the two sets of maps the Commission unveiled. The maps detail New York’s congressional and state legislative districts. With the Democrats holding a very narrow majority in the US House of Representatives, these maps will have a national impact.  Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of NYIC Action, issued the following statement: “It is absurd that the Independent Redistricting Commission failed in its fundamental mission. We worked too hard to ensure our immigrant communities were counted in the 2020 Census to accept the status quo regarding redistricting and community representation. Albany lawmakers must use the public input submitted to the Commission and deliver fair maps. Immigrants and communities across New York State deserve fair districts, and this is our one chance to get them this decade. Rather than draw partisan maps whose sole purpose is to protect incumbents, as in the past, our State Legislature must deliver for New Yorkers and draw maps that protect minority voting rights and ensure fair representation for all. We call on them to use all public input submitted to the Commission and to hold a hearing for public comment after their maps are drawn and before the vote.”    Background: NYIC Action is the lead facilitator of the Mapping Our Future campaign, a statewide coalition of 100+ grassroots organizations engaged in sustained and sophisticated political advocacy to protect immigrants and communities of colors’ power in the redistricting process.

State Senator Gustavo Rivera - Tomorrow: Cannabis Licensing Event

 

Join the Bronx Defenders tomorrow, Tuesday, January 25th from 6:00 pm-7:30 pm, to learn about the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which provides opportunities for people impacted by the legal system to become entrepreneurs in the legal cannabis industry. During this briefing, you will learn about the steps necessary to break into the industry and how to prepare in advance to obtain a license in 2023. 

The featured speaker, Elizabeth Kase Esq., co-chair of the Cannabis Law Practice Group at Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, along with Bronx Defenders Eli Northrup, Policy Counsel, and Babatunde Aremu, Employment and Licensing Counsel, will walk you through the Roadmap to Cannabis Licensing in New York. 

If you are interested in the cannabis economy, register at bit.ly/bxdlicensing.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, Brittany McCoy (bmccoy@bronxdefenders.org) or Eli Northrup (enorthrup@bronxdefenders.org).

I hope this information is useful to you! My team is available if you need assistance by contacting 718-933-2034 or grivera@nysenate.gov. Sincerely, Gustavo Rivera New York State Senator 33rd District, The Bronx

Send me updates on Marijuana in NY

NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE RELEASES CITY, STATE RECOMMENDATIONS TO COMBAT GUN VIOLENCE

 

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today released a series of city, state, and federal recommendations to combat the rise in gun violence. The strategies build on the approach he has championed for years, including as Chair of the Council's Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, and which contributed to bringing crime to historic lows prior to a nationwide rise in violence coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These recommendations come amid an overall increase in shootings in New York City and multiple tragic instances of gun violence in just the last week, including the shooting of an eleven month old in the Bronx who marked her first birthday in the hospital. Four NYPD officers were shot in the last week, including Officer Jason Rivera, who lost his life on Friday night.

"In the news and in our neighborhoods, we are seeing constant tragedy and loss, and our city is grieving. As we work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and confront the gun violence epidemic, it’s critical that we learn the lessons of both the policies that helped make our streets the safest they had been in decades, and the underlying structural issues that created conditions for gun violence to rise during the last two years,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "With a new mayor in New York City and a new governor in Albany, we have a new opportunity to embrace and invest in strategies which have too often been treated as second tier, and reduce gun violence while strengthening the communities most affected. I urge our new executives to structuralize, rather than compartmentalize, efforts which have been proven to save lives and approaches that will have immediate and long-term benefits to public health and safety."

The recommendations, which can be downloaded here, incorporate elements from the Public Advocate’s 2020 framework for reimagining public safety, as well as new measures to meet the current moment and help prevent the rise in violence in the last two years from continuing through 2022.

In New York City, the Public Advocate’s recommendations include:

• Increased investment in the Mayor’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, and better integrating that office’s work with other mayoral agencies
• Linking the Crisis Management System with the Department of Education and other agencies so that alternative programming can be provided through collaborative partners 
• Funding data research programs that provide services while unearthing the invisible economies that drive crime, which are often housing, mental health services, safe schools and employment opportunities.
• Investing in accessible, community-led community centers, recreational parks and outdoor community spaces
• Creating paid opportunities for community members to learn and apply skills related to social emotional support and civic engagement
• Law enforcement roles are important, can involve great risk, and should be done with transparency and accountability. In fairness to community members and the NYPD, other services roles must be more defined, resourced, and integrated
• The mayor should include stakeholders from all agencies in discussions on the interpretation of crime statistics and its impact on public safety, include community stakeholders in COMPStat meetings, and focus data analysis on areas disproportionately impacted by gun violence.
• The NYPD residency requirements should reflect those of other municipal employees so that officers reflect the communities they serve, with limited hiring flexibility in cases where a demonstrated need for unique expertise is required.
• Law enforcement engagement should focus on gun trafficking and targeting high profile traffickers.
• The MOGVP should divert budgetary resources into expanding Public Safety Councils and Mobile Trauma Units in “hotspot areas” where engagement strategies require deeper support structures. 
• DAs and judges must work together to quickly and sensibly address gun cases through the court system. They should prioritize alternatives for youth offenders where practical and expand funding for such alternatives. 
• The city must address hate-fueled violence on the basis of race, sexual or gender identity, religion, and other forms of hatred against marginalized populations
• The NYC DOE should consult with LGBTQIA+ communities and implement targeted learning experiences in schools that promote acceptance of our trans neighbors as well as other communities targeted for hate violence.
• The city must prioritize access to mental health services, especially in low-income communities who experience gun-violence, to combat self-harm and suicide.

On the state level, the Public Advocate calls for:

• Legislative measures including
• S7198, The Judith S. Kaye Safe and Supportive Schools Act, to address the school-to-prison pipeline
• S7573, which expands eligibility for victims and survivors of crime to access victim compensation funds by removing the mandatory law enforcement reporting requirement and providing alternative forms of evidence that would show that a qualifying crime was committed.
• S1083, which establishes a center for firearm violence research in New York State
• S4116, which requires semiautomatic pistols manufactured or delivered to any licensed dealer in this state to be capable of microstamping ammunition
• S2881, which will ensure that New Yorkers with substance use disorders, mental health concerns, and other disabilities have an off-ramp from the criminal legal system to obtain treatment and support in their communities.
• Albany should assist local municipalities dealing with an increase in gun violence in a unified effort to address it.
• The governor should require local municipalities to develop a public safety plan, rather than simply a policing plan, to utilize integrative strategies to address all emergency services, and authorize funding tied to those plans

Federally, the Public Advocate recommends:

• Enacting Universal Background Checks
• Strengthening Interstate Trafficking Initiatives
• Holding all networks accountable to law for flooding communities with guns, while ensuring that laws do not lead to mass incarceration of impacted communities, and maintaining an oversight on the discretion of law enforcement during its implementation.

Read the full list of recommendations here.

RIKERS ISLAND INMATE INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTING TO RAPE A NURSE IN THE JAIL AND FOR FORCIBLY TOUCHING A FEMALE DOC OFFICER

Incidents Happened Hours Apart 

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Rikers Island inmate has been indicted on Attempted Rape in the first degree and additional charges for sexually abusing a nurse and for forcibly touching a female Department of Correction Officer in the jail.

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly forcibly touched a female Correction Officer. Hours after that incident, the defendant allegedly attempted to rape a nurse assigned to the facility. He has been indicted for these appalling acts against women who work in the city’s jail.”

 District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Michael Cleaver, 56, an inmate in Rikers Island, was arraigned today on Attempted Rape in the first degree, first-degree Sexual Abuse, first and second-degree Unlawful Imprisonment, two counts of Forcible Touching and two counts of thirddegree Sexual Abuse before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Albert Lorenzo. Remand was continued and the defendant is due back in court on April 6, 2022.

 According to the investigation, on November 12, 2021, at approximately 2:22 a.m. in the Eric M. Taylor Center (EMTC), the defendant allegedly lunged at a 39-year-old female Correction Officer and touched her in her breast area. At approximately 4:12 p.m., also in EMTC, the defendant allegedly forced the second victim, a 51-year-old nurse on Rikers Island, into a room and locked the door. Cleaver placed the victim in a bearhug and pushed her to the ground. He then placed his hand into her pants and pulled her clothes down, exposing part of her backside. The victim yelled for help and another inmate broke the lock on the door and punched the defendant several times in an effort to get him off the victim.

 District Attorney Clark thanked Investigators Anthony Scoma, Paul Smith, and Walter Holmes, all of the Department of Correction Intelligence Bureau, for their work on the case.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt