The family of a man left in a vegetative state after an off-duty vigilante cop mistook him for a car thief and shot him in the head was outraged after a Bronx judge granted the police officer bail and let him back onto the street.
Officer Jonathan Baez posted bail and was released just hours after he turned himself in Thursday to face attempted murder charges for shooting 31-year-old Darielvi Henriquez in the back of the head.
“He’s going to pay his bail, be released, and be out there,” said the victim’s sibling, Wellington Henriquez. “I’m very upset. It wasn’t an animal that got shot, but my brother. That he got bail means they’re not taking my brother’s injuries seriously.”
Henriquez was riding in a luxury sedan when Baez, who believed the car was linked to the theft of his personal SUV, opened fire and struck him in the back of the head.
The Bronx resident is currently on a ventilator at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center. His brother said he may never recover.
“My brother is still in critical condition,” said Wellington. “He’s been in the hospital for three months. He can’t move and he can’t speak. We’re not sure he ever will. He’s in a vegetative state. We’re praying that will change.”
Both prosecutors and the victim’s family say Henriquez had nothing to do with the theft of Baez’s car.
“My brother is innocent,” said Henriquez’s brother. “(His friends) were giving him a ride to a restaurant on Dyckman to watch Dominican League baseball against Venezuela. They were going out.”
“We only want justice for my brother,” he said.
Henrique worked as a parking garage attendant and had recently returned from a trip to Miami when he was shot.
“He’s a good young man who never had any troubles with anybody,” said the victim’s father, Cecillio Henriquez. “He’s always been friendly.”
Henriquez was riding shotgun in a Hyundai Genesis on March 16 when Baez began tailing the sedan on the Cross Bronx Expressway and the Major Deegan Expressway until the vehicle exited the highway at E. 230th St.
When the Genesis’ driver got out on W. 231st St. near Albany Crescent in Kingsbridge about 9:15 p.m. Baez threw the driver on the ground, straddled him and pressed a gun to his back. He then ordered the Genesis driver to call 911 and say he was being held at gunpoint.
It was then, as another passenger slipped into the driver seat and tried to flee, that Baez fired two shots into the vehicle, striking Henriquez.
According to prosecutors, Baez’s 2024 Honda CR-V was stolen from outside his home. Video reviewed by Baez showed a Hyundai Genesis pulling up next to his SUV before it was stolen.
Baez conducted over 215 unauthorized personal searches of NYPD databases to track down his vehicle and the Genesis, prosecutors say.
“He went from a crime victim on Saturday night, March 14, 6 p.m., to a vigilante, exercising over 200 searches of powerful NYPD databases,” Assistant Bronx District Attorney Jon Veiga said during the officer’s arraignment in Bronx Supreme Criminal Court Thursday.
Prosecutors say the original driver of the Genesis who Baez was straddling in the street as well as the passenger who then jumped behind the wheel may have been involved in the SUV theft.
“The person who was shot in the head, we have conclusive proof was actually not involved in the theft of the officer’s car — and he’s the one who’s lying on a ventilator right now,” said Veiga.
Baez, assigned to the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau, was stripped of his gun and shield and put on modified duty in the wake of the shooting and later suspended without pay.
Prosecutors say the shooting victim is currently unable to move anything but his eyes and is unaware when his family is in the room with him.
“He had emergency surgery but the bullet was lodged too deep to fully remove it,” Veiga said. “So suffice to say he’s in very grave condition today.”
Baez was arraigned on a raft of charges including attempted murder, assault, criminal use of a firearm, computer trespass and kidnapping and ordered held on $250,000 bond.
The 12-year NYPD veteran faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.