What to Know
- Police say Pedro Hernandez, 19, was caught on surveillance video with another unidentified man, attacking a minivan in the Bronx on May 25
- Hernandez has been a subject of the issue of high bail and families who can't pay the fee after he was arrested for a 2015 shooting
- No injuries were reported in the van attack, police say. If arrested, Hernandez and the other suspect will face child endangerment charges
A Bronx man who made national headlines after he chose to stay on Rikers Island rather than plead guilty to a crime he said he didn't commit is now suspected of throwing a glass bottle at a van occupied by four girls, the NYPD says.
Police say Pedro Hernandez, 19, was caught on surveillance video with another unidentified man, attacking the minivan just after midnight on May 25. Two 20-year-old women, a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl were in the vehicle when the second suspect broke off the passenger side's rear view mirror with his fist.
The blurry video then showed another suspect, which police identified as Hernandez, throwing a glass bottle at the passenger side window and breaking it.
No injuries were reported, police say, and the suspect then fled in an unknown direction. The men will be charged with child endangerment if they are arrested.
Hernandez had been a subject of the issue of high bail and families who can't pay the fee after he was arrested for a 2015 shooting that left a teenager injured. The case against him was eventually dismissed.
Back in April, Hernandez was arrested again for allegedly attacking a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old with a knife and a bat as they were waiting for a cab in the Bronx.
Local
A family spokesman told News 4 the two alleged victims actually instigated the attack, stabbing Hernandez and leaving him with injuries that required nine staples on his back and seven stitches on his face before robbing him of his cash and jewelry.
In a statement provided to News 4, Hernandez's then attorney Julia Deutsch, who is in the Bronx Defenders' Criminal Defense Practice, claimed Hernandez "has been a target of the NYPD," adding he had been "subjected to harassment and false charges."
