An illegal immigrant accused of mowing down an NYPD officer in a hit-and-run is once again spotlighting New Yorks permissive bail laws and the citys refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
According to the New York Post, 31-year-old Eduardo Paulino, a Dominican national who entered the United States in 2023, was already wanted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement when he allegedly rammed a police officer with an SUV during a chaotic Saturday night gathering in the South Bronx. Law-enforcement sources said ICE had lodged a detainer against Paulino for final removal from the country following an earlier assault arrest, but local authorities released him back onto the streets instead of holding him for federal agents.
The case underscores a growing pattern in which criminal suspects in the country illegally are cycled through the system and returned to the public, even when federal officials have explicitly requested custody.
The earlier incident occurred on Sept. 14, when Paulino allegedly attacked a 29-year-old stranger during a dispute over parking on East 139th Street near Willis Avenue in The Bronx, repeatedly punching the man in the face. The victim was left with a bloody nose, bloody cuts on his mouth and scratches on his leg, prosecutors said, yet the charges filed against Paulino misdemeanor assault and harassment were not bail-eligible under New Yorks controversial bail-reform regime.
As a result, he was released on his own recognizance, despite the active ICE detainer and his recent arrival in the country.
Prosecutors said the man Paulino allegedly pummeled was also arrested for his role in the altercation and faced the same low-level charges, a reminder of how New Yorks criminal-justice system often treats violent confrontations as minor offenses. Even so, the critical distinction was that Paulino was already being sought by federal immigration authorities, who had formally requested that he be held for deportation proceedings.
Instead, local officials allowed him to walk free, a decision that set the stage for the violent confrontation with police just weeks later.
Authorities said Paulinos latest run-in with the law began around 7:20 p.m. Saturday, when officers responded to a 911 call about a large crowd and loud music at Garrison Avenue and Whittier Street. As a uniformed officer attempted to investigate, Paulino allegedly jumped into the drivers seat of a white Honda Pilot and threw the vehicle into reverse, prompting the officer to order him to stop, according to the criminal complaint.
Rather than comply, Paulino allegedly accelerated toward the officer, striking his legs and hip, the court documents state.
The complaint further alleges that Paulino then callously turned the front wheels toward the on-duty officer and hit the gas again, slamming into the cops leg a second time and knocking him to the ground. Before fleeing the scene, Paulino allegedly used the rear wheels of the SUV to run over the officers legs once more, prosecutors charged, transforming what began as a quality-of-life call into a near-fatal assault on a law-enforcement officer.
The injured cop was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, including severe pain, bruising, redness and swelling to his legs, ankles, knees, hips and back.
Paulino now faces a top charge of attempted murder and was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 bond during his Monday arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court. City Department of Correction records show the ICE detainer remains in effect, meaning federal authorities still intend to take custody of him if and when he is released from local custody.
The case raises an obvious question: why was that detainer ignored the first time, when a simple decision to honor it might have prevented an NYPD officer from being run down in the street?
News of Paulinos arrest broke the same day ICE announced it had lodged immigration detainers against two other Dominican nationals charged in another high-profile Bronx crime. Officials said DAngelo Caraballo and Sneinder Mejia were ordered held without bail on attempted-murder charges in the Oct. 2 stabbing of off-duty NYPD Detective Jose Mercedes.
Mercedes, described as a hero cop, was stabbed 10 times even though he repeatedly identified himself as a cop and then chased his attackers for two blocks while barefoot despite his injuries, a stark illustration of the dangers officers face while political leaders debate whether to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
In a pointed statement about that case, ICE New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo condemned the citys sanctuary-style policies and refusal to honor immigration detainers. New York Citys refusal to honor ICE detainers and its repeated release of removable aliens has grave and unacceptable consequences, including for the very law enforcement officers sworn to protect this city, Genalo said Tuesday.
He warned that when ideology overrides basic public safety, the results are predictable and dangerous.
When public safety is politicized and cooperation with federal immigration enforcement is rejected, dangerous individuals will remain in our communities despite repeated encounters with law enforcement. New Yorkers deserve policies that prevent future harm rather than create opportunities for it. Those words now resonate even more sharply in light of an NYPD officer allegedly being run down by a man who, by all rights, should have been in federal custody weeks ago.
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