A woman accused of punching a New York police officer should be released without bail because she’s an “essential worker,” her lawyer argued, but the judge didn’t agree.
Brandee Isom, 25, was arrested Tuesday and faces assault charges after she got involved in a robbery suspect’s arrest in the Bronx. Video of the ordeal shows an officer striking Isom, but she was allegedly throwing punches of her own before the camera was rolling, the New York Post reported.
“She’s an essential worker. She’s never gotten in trouble,” Isom’s lawyer, Iliana Santiago, said, claiming the footage shows “the officer hit [Isom] first.”
The judge presiding over the case decided against the lawyer’s “essential worker” argument, ordering Isom, who delivers medications to sick people, to be held on $5,000 bail.
“When someone goes to interfere with a police officer, that, to me, makes them a flight risk,” the judge said in court. “I would think someone in this kind of position would know better than try to get involved with officers trying to make an arrest.”
The Sergeants Benevolent Association also tweeted footage of the Tuesday night brawl, which showed another bystander, who was also arrested, slugging one of the officers who was arresting the robbery suspect.
“DeBlasio’s NYC is lost. NYPD cops under ATTACK AGAIN,” the group wrote. “Cops trying to make an arrest are again attacked by crowd & for the record anyone hitting, resisting or attacking an NYPD officer WILL BE HIT RIGHT BACK & Arrested, FEMALE or NOT.”
