The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office dragged its feet in prosecuting a man for throwing urine at an NYPD detective — causing the charges against the sicko to get dismissed, the cop’s union claimed in a letter obtained by The Post.
Kenneth Paraison, 27, was accused of throwing a container of urine at Detective Simon Laine’s “face, eyes, and mouth, and on his clothes” at Manhattan Central Booking on Feb. 10, 2020, according to the letter sent to DA Alvin Bragg by Detectives’ Endowment Association president Paul DiGiacomo on Monday.
“New York City Detectives risk their lives each and every day in order to keep our City safe and ensure justice is pursued for the victims of crime,” DiGiacomo wrote in the strongly worded missive.
“The absolute disregard by the Manhattan A.D.A.s (assistant district attorneys) in this important matter sends a message to criminals that there are no consequences for attacking Detectives and only invites more violence against the police, as well as the citizens of this City,” he claimed.
The detective was waiting to pick up another defendant wanted in a federal case when Paraison allegedly carried out the “vile attack” from inside his cell, where he was being held in a separate robbery case, according union officials.
Paraison pleaded guilty in the robbery case as part of a deal with prosecutors, and served three years in prison before his release in April.
But the DA’s Office didn’t move forward with the assault charges in the case involving Laine, despite a grand jury voting to indict Paraison.
Law enforcement sources said the clock set by New York’s “speedy trial” laws ran out, forcing the case to be dismissed.
While the office was headed by DA Cyrus Vance Jr. when the case began, DiGiacomo said that in the years that followed, Bragg’s prosecutors “failed to move forward in a timely manner with the continued prosecution, ultimately leading to the charges against the defendant being dismissed in April of 2023,” according to the letter.
The state Office of Court Administration confirmed that the charges were thrown out, but said it couldn’t comment further because the dismissal had sealed the case.
Just a few months after Paraison was freed from prison in the robbery case, he was arrested again on Aug. 29 for allegedly stabbing a 36-year-old man in the Bronx, according to a criminal complaint.
Paraison stabbed the victim in the abdomen on July 18, sending him to the hospital, where he had to undergo surgery and be intubated, the complaint alleges.
DiGiacomo charged that Paraison wouldn’t have been able to nearly kill another man “had he been properly tried, convicted, and most likely incarcerated for his bio-chemical assault on Det. Laine.”
Laine had to live with the “incalculable” stress and worry that he might have contracted a disease from the urine.
The detective went on to get tested for a series of illnesses, which, thankfully, he was clear of, the letter states.
The DA’s Office said it was in touch with Laine before the case was dismissed, four months ago.
“Police officers and detectives have the toughest jobs and we do not tolerate acts of violence against them,” Danielle Filson, a DA spokesperson, told The Post Tuesday.
“By the time this individual appeared in court, he had been incarcerated for four years, it had been three years since the incident, and the case was not viable,” Filson said. “We cannot speak to why he was never produced from custody in those three years, two of which were before D.A. Bragg even took office.”
The DEA president said the union was “outraged” with the DA’s Office for letting the case get dismissed and continuing “to turn a blind eye to violence perpetrated against the police.”
He called on Bragg to conduct a review of what happened in Paraison’s assault case and “to develop a new system of checks and balances to ensure something like this never happens again,” the letter states.
The union said it will also be alerting the Attorney Grievance Committee and the New York Attorney General’s Office of what happened with Paraison’s case.
“This disgusting attack on an NYPD Detective is only made worse by the failures of District Attorney Bragg’s office to prosecute the criminal who was arrested,” DiGiacomo told The Post in a statement Monday.
Paraison, who faces an indictment on second-degree attempted murder charges in the Bronx case, is being held on Rikers Island on $150,000 bail pending trial, jail records show.
He is due back in court on Oct. 4 and faces up to 25 years in prison, if convicted.
The Legal Aid Society — which represents Paraison in the Bronx case — declined to comment Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona
