The father of accused “A-Train Ripper” once released his son from prison even after the disgusting boy allegedly beat him and threatened to kill him with a knife – and now relatives say they would like the suspect to have been left behind. grids.
“It would have been better for all of us, and for him too, to keep him in prison, ” Oscar Lopez told his alleged murdering brother, Rigoberto Lopez, to The New York Post on Monday.
Rigoberto, 21, confessed to stabbing two people to death and wounding two others in a random mess aboard A trains in New York City over the weekend, police said.
The homeless person had already been arrested at least four times, including for hitting his father on the left knee with a cane in September 2019, according to officials and his family.
“My dad didn’t want to give him $ 20 to eat. [Dad] he said, ‘I can give you food, but I don’t want to give you money, because I know what you want to use the money for,’ “recalled Oscar, who lives in the Bronx.
“I don’t know what he smoked, but I know it wasn’t marijuana,” said his brother about Rigoberto. “He was addicted to this drug and that’s what he wanted the money for.”
Rigoberto was arrested for hitting his father “with a wooden stick on the back of his left knee, causing redness, swelling and bruising on the inside of his left knee and pain,” according to a criminal complaint.
The bad seed was accused of illegal assault and aggravated harassment, and while prosecutors asked for $ 500 bail, the judge released the defendant on his own bail.
A week later, Rigoberto tried to beat his father again for money – threatening, “I’m going to kill you with a knife” if the money was not handed over, according to court documents and law sources.
The son was accused of criminal misdemeanor for contempt. Prosecutors asked for $ 2,000 bail – but Rigoberto was again ROR.
The violent man finally ended up behind bars when he went to his father’s workplace in Manhattan the following month, violating a protection order – and wielded a wooden stick, cutting off a policeman’s eye, upper lip and hand while resisting arrest, court documents and sources said.
Rigoberto was accused of criminal assault on a police officer. Prosecutors asked for $ 10,000 cash bail or $ 30,000 bail. The judge, however, set a cash bond of $ 5,000 and a bail of $ 7,000 for the suspect.
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“My father was crying when [Rigoberto] was in prison. We were all crying, we all wanted him to leave, ” Oscar said.
“I said, ‘Let me talk to the lawyer and see if we can get him out.’ I spoke to the lawyer on the phone … and he told me how much we had to pay to get him out.
“I said to my dad, and my dad said, ‘OK, come on.’ We went to court and paid bail and released him the same day. “
Rigoberto was arrested again a little less than a year later for drug possession – after police responded to a call from an emotionally disturbed person in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and found him with 48 glass bags of cocaine, according to records from the court and sources.
He was charged with fifth-degree illegal possession of drugs and placed under supervised release, as requested by prosecutors.
A spokesman for the state court’s administration office, Lucian Chalfen, told the Post on Tuesday that there is no way the judges who released Lopez in previous cases could have predicted what he is now accused of.
“The judiciary quarterback on Monday morning does not hit the target,” wrote Chalfen by email. “Adding up the previous arrests of this defendant does not give a view of the judge, even if [jurists] were legally allowed to consider it, in what happened on train A.
“Judges of the Criminal Court are only authorized to make decisions in the prosecution, with respect to the defendant’s bail and confinement, in the case immediately preceding them. The legislature provides the guidelines that the judiciary follows ”.
Oscar Lopez said his brother lived at home after being released after his last fight against the law – but he was incredibly ungrateful, complaining about the residence and intimidating everyone around him.
“When he got out of prison, he told us that we didn’t help him. I said, ‘Listen. I did everything I could to help him,'” said Oscar.
“‘I bought you food, I bought clothes for you. You want to get on the street, that’s what you’re going to get. I have my own things to do … You’re not a baby anymore,'” he said. told Rigoberto.
“One day, [Rigoberto] he told us: ‘I hate you all with all my heart’, “said Oscar.
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“I said to my father, ‘You were crying because he was in prison, now you want him back in prison. What was the point in taking him out and spending all that money for no reason?'”
Oscar said his brother “was always complaining about how the house was being run.
“He wanted the house the way he wanted it. And I said to him, ‘Listen, you don’t pay rent, you don’t pay bills here. So don’t do anything. Just stay in your room. You don’t’ I have no right to do nothing here, to change anything. ‘
“He always fought with my older brother, but he talked, talked, talked, ” said Oscar.
“He once broke one of my phones. He threw it at the window and broke the window and the phone,” he said of Rigoberto.
“He was trying to fight me, and I said, ‘I’m here, what are you going to do?’ And he did nothing, I said to him, ‘I’m going to call the police’ and he left because he was scared.
“Two days later, he came back to get his clothes. He called me at 2 am.
“We went into my room and he said to me, ‘Do you see these clothes? You have to put them on the other side. ‘ I said, ‘Listen, these are my clothes, I put them on the way I want them, not the way you want them. This house is no longer yours. ‘
“He spoke, spoke, spoke. I said, ‘Listen, I’m going to call the police.’ He said: ‘Call the police, I don’t care.’ “
Then “he said, ‘Do you want me to kill you?’ I said, ‘I’m going to give you a knife.’ I put the knife in your hand and said, ‘Do what you have to do.’
“He said, ‘No, you’re my brother, I’m not going to do this, you help me a lot,'” said Oscar. “I said, ‘So, why are you talking like that, that you’re going to kill me?’ “
The suspect, who was hospitalized at least twice for mental health problems, remained at home during the COVID-19 outbreak in spring 2020 – and had a social worker, but she was unable to visit because of the virus, Oscar said.
“I spoke to his social worker,” said the brother. “She said the only help he could get would be over the phone. I said, ‘This is not going to help. He has big problems. He’s frustrated. ‘”
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Rigoberto left home in May or June, ending up on the streets, then a homeless shelter in Brooklyn, where he lived at the time of the weekend stabbing spree.
He was summoned on charges of first-degree murder on Monday and held without bail.