(NewsNation) —The viral Crimestoppers video showing a man pulling a baseball bat from his pants, then violently attacking a homeless man had people concerned when it was released in late November.
“They need to get these people off the streets — attacking someone for no reason,” one New Yorker said.
Police did just that, arresting 36-year-old Karim Azizi near the site of the Manhattan attack.
Police said Azizi and the homeless man exchanged words before the attack, but what was said is not known. In the video, Azizi is seen going back, threatening to strike the 47-year-old man again while he is on the ground, and instead kicking him before walking off.
Thanks to the release of the video and pictures, police arrested Azizi Wednesday, charging him with assault, attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
But Azizi is already out after being released on $75,000 bail.
Azizi’s attorney, Jason Goldman, told NewsNation, “Karim is a lifelong New Yorker and a father of three who has never so much as jaywalked in his life. There’s more to this story than what meets the eye.”
Goldman did not respond to questions about his quick release. Such releases are a topic about which New York Mayor Eric Adams has been vocal.
“The NYPD arrests them, the criminal justice system fails to hold them,” Keechant Sewell, the NYPD police commissioner, said.
A series of brutal and random crimes have been caught on camera, adding to the public outcry to do more to keep people in jail once they are caught.
Adams has asked New York’s legislature to get tougher on crime. The homeless man has been treated and released and is expected to be OK.