Holly MatkinBrooklyn, NY – A Brooklyn gang member who was caught on video trying to ditch a stolen gun was released from jail on the condition that he write a report about gun violence.
New York City Civil Court Judge Ellen Edwards ignored prosecutors’ requests to hold “G Stone Crips” member Ismail Abraham on a $25,000 bond for his most recent offense, the New York Post reported.
Instead, she imposed a homework assignment and an 8 p.m. curfew on the known gang member.
Abraham, 18, has four previous arrests, all of which have been sealed.
At least two of those arrests were for gun possession offenses that occurred in the past year, according to the New York Post.
“It just goes to show you how out-of-touch these judges are,” said a retired New York Police Department (NYPD) detective who formerly worked in the neighborhood where Abraham was arrested.
“She should have to sit in jail until he finishes the report,” he added. “She probably won’t have to make plans for a long time.”
According to court documents, Abraham was arrested at approximately 4:20 p.m. on April 16 after police saw him tossing a loaded, .38-caliber handgun onto the ground outside a residence on Newport Street while he tried to run away down an alley.
The act was also captured by a nearby security camera, police aid.
Investigators later determined that the gun had been reported as stolen in Chicago.
But Edwards cut Abraham lose at his arraignment hearing the very next day, and ordered him to write up the “report on gun violence in the community,” the New York Post reported.
It is unclear when the gangbanger’s assignment is due to the court.
Abraham’s grandmother said that she doubts that Edwards’ book report requirement will do anything to set her grandson on a better path, the New York Post reported.
“He is messed up,” she said. “It must be the weed he is smoking that makes him so crazy.”
She said Abraham was expelled from school in 2018, even though his father offered to pay him if he would simply attend classes.
He refuses to listen to anyone, including his uncle, who is a corrections officer, she added.
“We are thankful and grateful that the judge is giving him a second chance. But it’s up to him,” Abraham’s grandmother said. “That’s my grandson. I want him out of the gang, but he is sticking to it.”
Edwards did not respond to requests for comment in Abraham’s case, but a spokesperson in her office said that the circumstances of his release were “well within [Edwards’] discretion,” the New York Post reported.