This is some turnstile justice.
A repeat offender was free to punch a 37-year-old pregnant woman in the face on a Queens subway train last month after he committed three other similar transit attacks in the past four months — but got repeatedly let back out to do more violence, sources said.
Christopher Benitez, 33, of Brooklyn – who has 16 prior arrests – was busted again Friday for slugging his latest victim on board a J train at the Jamaica Center-Parsons-Archer station around 5:50 p.m. Feb. 25, according to cops and sources.
The alleged assault comes after a series of recent attacks that did not lead to him being locked up — including on Dec. 26, in which he punched a woman on a subway in Queens, got arrested and freed that same day without bail and then attacked another woman in Manhattan later in the afternoon.
News that he was free to punch again left one of Benitez’s earlier victims shocked he wasn’t in jail.
“It’s really scary,” said Elaine Silva, 37, who was slugged by Benitez on Dec. 26 inside the 42nd Street-Bryant Park train station.
“And also it makes me feel very mad about it, and especially because it’s another woman, because it was a pregnant woman. I feel very mad about it actually.”
Benitez’s string of recent alleged attacks began on Nov. 9, when he was busted for punching a 40-year-old woman in the face and chest in a random attack at the Jamaica-Van Wyck subway station in Queens, according to the sources.
He was granted supervised release in that attack, as requested by prosecutors, because the misdemeanor third-degree assault charge was not eligible for bail under state law, the sources said.
That decision left him free to strike again at 7:10 a.m. on Dec. 26 at the Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street subway station in Queens, when he randomly punched a 24-year-old woman in the face as she walked toward the mezzanine, sources said.
He was again busted — but again let go, this time on a desk appearance ticket that ordered him to appear in court on Feb. 21.
Rather than learn his lesson, he struck again just hours later, in Manhattan, when he attacked Silva, punching her in the face as she was heading toward the exit of the 42nd Street-Bryant Park station around 4:40 p.m.
Finally, prosecutors requested bail for Benitez, and a judge set it at $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond — which he was somehow able to post and get back out on the streets.
The revolving door for the clearly troubled man left Silva dismayed.
“I understand he has a mental health disorder, but what if I have an encounter with him again, and maybe he’s not going to remember me, but what if he also does the same thing to another person?” Silva said. “And look what happened.”
The bust and the bail allegedly didn’t put Benitez on the straight and narrow. He was arrested yet again while out on bail for fare jumping in Brooklyn on Jan. 25, and was allowed to take plea despite all the recent arrests.
But then he failed to show up for his next court date for his first Dec. 26 attack and a warrant was issued, sources said.
The warrant was out for him when he was busted Friday for his latest attack on the pregnant woman.
Benitez’s rap sheet also includes a January 2019 arrest for assault, a bust for criminal mischief in July of 2018, and a bust in June of 2016 for allegedly drinking alcohol out on the street, sources said.
Benitez’s latest attack left the pregnant victim banged up not hospitalized, and he was again charged with third-degree assault, cops said.
Benitez wore a black puffer jacket, blue jeans and black sneakers when he was led out in cuffs from the Transit District 20 precinct, housed inside the Briarwood subway station.
He briefly glanced at the awaiting press photographers then put his head down, hanging it low while he was led out of the station and into an awaiting police car, bringing him to Queens Criminal Court.
His arraignment in the latest case was pending Friday evening.
Additional reporting by Jack Morphet
