The crazed man accused of stabbing two teen tourists at Grand Central Terminal and then slashing a fellow inmate at Rikers Island is the latest tragic example of New York City’s broken criminal justice system, fed-up lawmakers, advocates and law enforcement sources told The Post.
Steven Hutcherson, 36, is being held at the Bronx lock-up without bail on attempted murder as a hate crime and other charges for allegedly knifing the two teens on Christmas Day, before attacking another inmate in the jail.
But, Hutcherson — who has a history of mental health issues and at least 17 prior arrests — shouldn’t have been out on the streets in the first place because it had been clear for some time that he was dangerous and needed treatment, according to several people who spoke to The Post.
He had also been classified as an “emotionally disturbed person” in prior brushes with police, the law enforcement sources said.
Councilman Bob Holden (D-Queens) called it a “major failure” of the criminal justice system “that someone with such serious mental illness was allowed to roam the streets, only to end up in jail to continue committing random acts of violence”.
“The fact that he passed any psychological test is concerning. We are not treating serious mental illness and must be willing to involuntarily commit such individuals for their safety and the safety of the public,” Holden said.
“You see them in court. It’s a revolving door. Some of these guys have been arrested over 75 or 80 times and they keep giving them supervised release,” an NYPD officer, who requested anonymity, said.
The officer lamented that too many judges are granting supervised release to convicted criminals with mental illnesses instead of having them evaluated and put into treatment.
“It’s just really sad. Before their paperwork is dry they’re out on the street again and not getting any help,” the cop added.
After Hutcherson allegedly went on a rampage and randomly attacked the two teens, 14 and 16, at a French restaurant at the Grand Central dining concourse on Monday, he underwent a physical and psychological evaluation by city Correctional Health Services — and was still cleared to be placed with the general population at Rikers.
Soon after he was processed at Rikers, Hutcherson somehow obtained a 1.5 inch ceramic knife and allegedly stabbed an inmate in yet another unprovoked attack.
But the Grand Central knifings mark the latest in a string of violent busts for Hutcherson who prosecutors argued less than two weeks earlier should be committed to a psychiatric program for randomly threatening to “shoot” a stranger on a Bronx street in November.
Hutcherson, who also uses the name Esteban Esono-Asue, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, which turned out to be a knife, as well as menacing, harassment and assault.
He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said.
At that time, he already had more than a dozen prior arrests and a lengthy rap sheet. But Judge Matthew Grieco still sentenced the career criminal on Dec. 12 to a conditional discharge that put him back on the street, records show.
“We have taken all sense of discretion and common sense out of our justice system, and we have thrown public safety out with the bathwater,” Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) said.
“Progressives promised us that their criminal justice reforms would net greater public safety. That’s proven to be false and we’re paying the price in the number of crime victims.”
James Quinn, a former top prosecutor in the Queens District Attorney’s Office, said Hutcherson should not have been free to commit his latest alleged crimes — but the system is just “not equipped.”
“The man is not of sane mind. He should be put into mandatory treatment. But it’s hard under the current law to compel treatment. The system is not equipped to deal with a guy like that,” Quinn said.
A Manhattan cop, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claimed Friday the latest incidents involving Hutcherson proved that the criminal justice system was “really not taking mental health issues seriously.”
“We’re arresting them instead of helping them,” he said.
“If you look at Midtown North, this is what they bring in on a regular basis. A lot of these people need mental help and we’re arresting them and putting them in the system.”
Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Patrick Hendry noted that police officers also face increased dangers because of failures in the system.
“A deranged rant can turn into real violence in a heartbeat,” he explained.
“Every time a violently mentally ill person is sent back to the streets instead of to treatment, it creates an unacceptable risk for every police officer who encounters them.”
In addition to his several arrests, sources said Hutcherson also had two recent incidents in which police were called over reports of erratic behavior in the Bronx — screaming on a street in Mt. Hope on Nov. 23 and a Sept. 11 dispute at the 176th Street subway station, during which he was stabbed.
Hutcherson’s ex-girlfriend Charisma Knight, 37, also previously told The Post he had threatened to kill her “at least five times” in the past year and that she had reported the incidents to police “all the time.”
She also warned cops that Hutcherson was not taking his medication for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and “might just kill somebody”.
In his most recent mental health episode on Dec. 5, he became unhinged outside a Bronx apartment building and was brought to St. Barnabas Hospital for psychiatric evaluation by police, sources said.
Mayor Eric Adams last year expanded the ability of city workers to involuntarily commit New Yorkers with chronic and untreated mental illness.
But the program — known as Kendra’s Law — has received criticism for placing too much responsibility on police and hospital staff who can only do so much without adequate mental health services to support and rehabilitate people.
Attorney Robert Gottlieb of Robert C. Gottlieb & Associates, who has clocked up decades in state and federal courts, accused the criminal justice system of being “impotent when it comes to addressing issues of mental illness and preventing crime because of mental illness.”
“Holding [Hutcherson] for 30 days, 60 days is not going to prevent that next more serious attempted murder, if not murder, unless he gets real, legitimate professional treatment,” Gottlieb told The Post.
“The criminal justice system just doesn’t have the personnel to provide that sort of treatment. The state and state hospitals do not have efficient doctors who can spend the time and care to make sure the person is on the proper medication and is being tracked even when he’s released from a state hospital.”
He described the current system as merely a “bandaid.”
“At the end of the day, unless, as a society, we establish real, thorough mental health services for individuals, it’s only a bandaid that will be torn off in a short period of time, only after he commits another crime,” he said.
A Brooklyn-based NYPD officer, with more than two decades on the job and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claimed that “nobody’s getting the help that they need”.
“It always falls back on the police. We have to deal with them. We get them off the street but they get right back out. It’s a vicious cycle,” he said.
