A Manhattan judge set free an alleged looter charged with bashing a cop’s head open with a glass bong swiped amid violent protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, The Post has learned.
The move marked at least the second time that Judge Laurie Peterson has overruled prosecutors and released a defendant without bail — which in the earlier case allegedly led to a pair of unprovoked slashings by the psycho who got sprung.
“What could she possibly be thinking? Is she living under a rock? Did she see the looting going on in the city?” said a cop who worked in Manhattan every night of the recent riots.
“I guess they really want to do away with cops and let the criminals run wild.”
Kevin Bullock, 22, was allegedly among the thieves who cops saw ransacking a smoke shop at the corner of Walker and Baxter streets shortly after 2 a.m. June 1, law enforcement sources said.
When a cop grabbed one of the crooks, Bullock — who has a rap sheet listing 23 prior arrests, according to law enforcement sources — hit the officer in the back of the head with a bong stolen from the store, sources said.
He then shoved the cop and ran away, leaving the cop with a bloody gash and a concussion, sources said.
The unidentified officer spent several days recovering from the injury is now on limited duty, sources said.
Detectives used surveillance video to identify Bullock, and members of the NYPD’s Warrant Section tracked him down Wednesday at his apartment in Brooklyn, sources said.
He was nabbed despite trying to avoid arrest by crawling out a window and jumping from a fire escape, sources said.
Bullock was charged with four counts, including assault on a police officer, attempted assault with a weapon and burglary, court records show.
“This is a strong case, with clear video evidence, and he faces state prison time if convicted of these violent felonies,” a law enforcement source said.
“Bail is the least restrictive means to ensure his return to court.”
During Bullock’s arraignment Thursday, Manhattan prosecutor Caitlin Naun detailed the evidence against him and sought to have bail set at $25,000 cash or $75,000 bond, sources said.
Peterson instead released Bullock without bail pending another court appearance on Sept. 11, records show.
In 2016, Peterson sparked outrage when a defendant she released without bail in an unprovoked assault on a woman in Greenwich Village went on to allegedly slash the faces of two other women, including one the very next day after he was sprung.
Peterson had been warned that the defendant, career criminal Kari Bazemore, was considered to pose a “high risk” of flight but refused to set $1,000 bail sought by the prosecution.
Bazemore was later deemed mentally unfit for trial and committed for psychiatric treatment.
He’s due in court again later this month, records show.
Peterson declined to comment through a spokesman for the state court system.
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Bullock, desputed that he had been arrested 23 times, but did not offer an accurate number of arrests besides saying that number was “way off.”
Bullock has no conviction record, and adamantly disputes the charges, a spokesman said.
“We look forward to securing his innocence in court,” said Lamar Miller, Staff Attorney with the Manhattan Trial Office at The Legal Aid Society.
“Days later, in the course of arresting Mr. Bullock at his home, true to form, the NYPD brutalized our client, breaking his ankle and inflicting other pain.
“He did nothing to warrant their brutality. Then, instead of seeking immediate medical attention, the NYPD deprived him of this and took Mr. Bullock to a precinct in a different borough where he languished in a cell for hours while they decided whether his broken ankle should receive medical care at a hospital.
“It’s a broken ankle, so in what world do you not immediately take him to a hospital? Unfortunately, this one.”