A teen who was twice charged with possessing loaded handguns got treated with kid gloves both times under the state’s controversial “Raise the Age” law — allowing him to allegedly use another weapon to accidentally shoot himself in his bedroom, The Post has learned.
But even the self-inflicted wound wasn’t enough to get reputed gang member Rodney Sanders of Brooklyn locked up, which only happened after his fourth gun arrest in less than nine months, according to law enforcement sources.
“What does it take for politicians to realize some people should not be treated as minors?” one Brooklyn cop fumed.
“Do they have to shoot someone besides themselves?”
Sanders, 17, is an alleged member of the Bloods-affiliated “Miller Made Crew” of about 30 teens who live in the area around his apartment on Miller Avenue in East New York, sources said.
“He likes carrying guns,” said a Brooklyn cop familiar with Sanders’ case.
Sanders was first arrested on Oct. 17 while allegedly in possession of a loaded gun and again on March 1 after cops allegedly found two loaded guns while carrying out a court-authorized search of his bedroom, sources said.
Following both busts, Sanders his cases diverted to Family Court and was released from custody under the 2017 “Raise the Age” law that largely ended criminal prosecutions of teens younger than 18 charged with misdemeanors and non-violent felonies, sources said.
The reform measure, championed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was touted as an end to the “injustice” of automatically prosecuting 16- and 17-year-olds as adults and a way to ensure they “receive the intervention and evidence-based treatment they need” to prevent them from committing more crimes.
Mayor Eric Adams has called on Albany lawmakers to amend the law so it won’t apply to cases involving firearms, saying, “The goal is to say that if you are caught with a gun in this city, you are going to criminal court.”
Sanders was arrested again after he allegedly admitted shooting himself in the leg inside his bedroom around 7 p.m. on May 6.
Cops found a pistol magazine holding six bullets in the doorway of the apartment at 747 Miller Ave. and a revolver loaded with six rounds stashed in a shoebox in the apartment, according to court records.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office convinced a judge to let Sanders be prosecuted in the Youth Part of Brooklyn Supreme Court, a spokesperson for DA Eric Gonzalez said.
Sanders pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment and weapons charges and was released without bail because all the charges were covered by the bail reform law that went into effect at the start of 2020, according to the DA’s Office.
Two months later, on July 6, Sanders was busted for a fourth time about a block from his home when cops saw him allegedly toss a .45 caliber Sig Sauer P320 pistol loaded with 10 rounds on the ground outside 808 Miller Ave., Brooklyn, around 8:05 p.m.
He pleaded not guilty to second-degree possession of a weapon and was ordered held without bail after the prosecution cited “his extensive criminal history that keeps escalating despite interventions by the courts,” the DA’s spokesperson said.
Sanders’ Legal Aid lawyers didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The teen is due in court Monday.