A man arrested for allegedly trying to rape a straphanger in a Bay Ridge subway bathroom last week had been freed under the state’s new bail-reform law just over a month prior, law enforcement revealed.
Arjun Tyler, 20 — who was arrested Friday in the brutal attack on a 31-year-old woman at the 95th Street station in Bay Ridge on Jan. 27 — had been jailed awaiting trial since December 2018 on a Brooklyn burglary arrest, court records show.
But the records show he was released Dec. 19, less than two weeks before the reforms took effect Jan. 1, preventing pre-trial detention for suspects in most misdemeanor and non-violent felony cases.
While out, Tyler is accused of following the victim into the bathroom at the 95th Street station around 10:15 a.m. on Jan. 27 and brutally attacked her, allegedly punching the woman in the face several times and trying to pull down her leggings.
She was saved by a good Samaritan who heard her screams and intervened. The passerby knocked on the bathroom door and scared off the attacker, according to police.
Tyler was arraigned late Sunday night on separate charges and held in lieu of $75,000 bail, according to court officials.
He wasn’t arraigned on the attempted rape charge filed by cops because investigators wanted to reinterview the victim but were unable to find her, a police source said. Investigators are continuing to probe the woman’s claim, the source said.
Tyler wasn’t charged with sexual assault at the arraignment because prosecutors were looking to interview the victim, who couldn’t be located, a police source said. Police believe the woman’s story, the source said.
His is just the latest bail reform case that has drawn the ire of police officials.
“Inaction by the governor is no different than him holding down the hands of a victim while they’re being raped, robbed and, in some cases, murdered,” said Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeant’s Benevolent Association. “He’s as much to blame as the perp committing the crime.”
In a statement Sunday, the Legal Aid Society, which represents Tyler, countered that “bail reform has already worked to free thousands of New Yorkers, many of whom could not afford to buy their freedom, from pretrial detention back to their families….”
The statement argues Tyler has no criminal record. He has two open cases in Brooklyn but has not been convicted in either.
“We urge the public not to draw any conclusions based on a narrative being peddled by law enforcement in an attempt to undermine the new pretrial reforms,” the statement said.