A deranged Bronx man repeatedly fell via the cracks in New York Metropolis’s damaged system — and outrage is rising that it took allegedly killing a 14-year-old boy for him to lastly be locked away in a psychiatric facility.
The saga of Waldo Mejia — who shouted “I’m with Satan!” in courtroom after cops stated he randomly plunged a knife into teen Caleb Rijos’ chest — exhibits the dire want to alter the state’s involuntary dedication legal guidelines, pols and attorneys advised The Put up.
“New York City’s criminal justice system – including the ever-evolving bail statutes – is just not equipped to handle people who are clearly indicating advanced signs of mental illness and engage in bizarre and violent acts,” stated Mark Bederow, a Massive Apple protection lawyer who’s not concerned within the case.
“There were all kinds of red flags with this guy from before this terrible incident and it’s just senseless.”
Over years of spiraling psychological sickness, Mejia menaced his mom, set the foyer of his ex-girlfriend’s constructing on hearth and dementedly stabbed a neighbor’s doorbell digicam, information and sources stated.
However Mejia, 29, appears to have repeatedly skirted out of psychological well being care, leaving him free to allegedly first slash a straphanger, then fatally stab Rijos in January.
“He’s doing it in front of us, in front of our own eyes and our criminal justice system just continues to let it happen time and time again,” stated Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Staten Island), who has proposed a invoice that might routinely power somebody right into a psychological well being remedy program if they’re arrested for a similar crime 10 occasions.
A choose this week ordered Mejia to a psychiatric facility, the place he’ll keep till he’s deemed match to face trial on homicide and manslaughter expenses in Rijos’ slaying.
The transfer got here shortly after Albany Democrats appeared poised to weaken or reject Gov. Kathy Hochul’s bid to develop involuntary dedication legal guidelines within the upcoming state price range.
As a substitute, the Dems have been circling a weaker proposal to require evaluation panels after incidents through which mentally sick individuals fall via the cracks or hurt others.
One supply conversant in state price range negotiations indicated that Hochul, Meeting Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) touched on the governor’s involuntary dedication proposal in preliminary closed-door talks and that they’re generally settlement that one thing must be performed.
However the talks, which started in earnest this week, haven’t delved into what precisely these adjustments might entail — or if they may have swooped up somebody like Mejia and prevented Rijos’ mindless demise.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, in a information convention after Rijos’ Jan. 10 homicide, stated the case ought to be a name to motion for coping with repeat offenders and other people extreme psychological well being points.
“The status quo is just not working for New Yorkers,” Tisch stated.
“A brutal, unprovoked killing of a 14-year-old child by a career criminal or recidivist over and over again, with [a severe] history of mental health interactions with the NYPD.”
Mejia had suffered schizophrenia and his household had pushed him to voluntarily get remedy since a 2015 arrest, though he usually stopped taking his medicine, his stepbrother advised Gothamist.
The 2015 arrest — throughout which cops stated Mejia had a gravity knife, supposed for cover — was the primary of a minimum of 4 occasions that NYPD officers took him into custody, in response to law-enforcement sources.
Mejia’s subsequent arrest got here in Might 2017, when his mom advised police that he known as her to say he was going to interrupt every part in her Bronx dwelling, in response to the sources.
She returned dwelling, the place she was confronted by Mejia, who advised her, “I have a gun,” the sources stated. Nervous, she known as the police, who arrested her son.
The end result of each weapons circumstances remained unclear.
Then in 2019, cops once more arrested Mejia after he set the foyer of ex-girlfriend’s Bronx condo constructing on hearth, supply stated.
He pleaded down his arson cost to reckless endangerment, and was granted launched on the situation that he bear psychological well being remedy, in response to The New York Instances.
The following arrest got here on Nov. 27, 2024 — simply over a month earlier than Rijos’ killing — when his neighbor turned over disturbing Ring footage of a dead-eyed Mejia repeatedly stabbing the doorbell digicam with a knife, shattering it.
The neighbor stated Mejia had repeatedly harassed him, in response to the sources.
Albany in the way in which
Gov. Kathy Hochul is going through pushback from the state Legislature on her proposal to curb New York Metropolis’s psychological well being disaster. The state Meeting and Senate both solely omitted or scrapped components of Hochul’s bid to develop involuntary dedication of their respective counterproposals to the governor’s price range plan. Hochul’s proposal contains:
- Widening the factors through which an individual might be pressured into psychiatric remedy to incorporate conditions the place their psychological well being points forestall them from caring for his or her fundamental wants equivalent to meals, clothes and medical care.
- Increasing the group of people that have the facility to involuntarily commit somebody to incorporate psychiatric nurse practitioners.
- Streamlining elements of Kendra’s Legislation, which permits a courtroom to order people with psychological sickness into assisted outpatient remedy.
However he walked free on his personal recognizance the following day as a result of his misdemeanor case wasn’t bail-eligible.
Mejia’s protection lawyer, Patrick Brackley, stated Friday he was nonetheless making an attempt to piece collectively his shopper’s historical past. He was not sure whether or not Mejia had been required to bear a psych examination with any of his earlier circumstances.
“That’s the heart of the matter, because it’s clearly an individual who has pre-existing psychological issues, is incapable, as we can now understand, of taking care of himself,” Brackley advised The Put up. “So, somewhere he was put in a position where he was not being properly medicated.”
New York’s bail reforms additionally tied the choose’s arms within the doorbell case, stated Bederow, a former Manhattan prosecutor.
Eligibility for bail and consideration of Mejia’s potential dangerousness might have paved the way in which for a psychological competency examination, which might have seen him get dedicated as an alternative of launched again into the general public.
“It’s an example of someone slipping through the cracks,” Bederow stated.
Police imagine a crazed, free Mejia had randomly slashed a straphanger’s arm on Jan. 5 in a Mott Haven prepare station.
Per week later, Rijos was strolling to high school alongside East 138th Road when Mejia stabbed him twice within the chest, cops stated.
Rijos known as his father as he lay dying and stated he was scared and couldn’t breathe, Bronx District Lawyer Darcel Clark advised reporters.
One of many Rijos’ household’s neighbors — Ideliz Rodriguez, 47 — stated the teenager’s father is damaged man and infrequently talks for the reason that mindless stabbing.
“He walks with his head down or looks straight ahead when he’s coming in the building,” she stated.
Elizabeth Lawson, one other household good friend, stated Rijos’ father is offended.
“He’s messed up. He’s upset all the time,” she stated.
“This should have never happened. They always wait for something to happen in order for them to do something.”
Contained in the foyer of Rijos’ condo constructing, his pals and neighbors arrange a memorial. They’ve plastered posters and caught balloons and flowers alongside the tiled partitions, that are scrawled with message of affection and requires justice.
“Mental illness is not an excuse to take an innocent life!” one observe learn.
— Further reporting by Amanda Woods and Kyle Schnitzer
