Mayor Eric Adams acknowledged Tuesday that the city bears responsibility for a madman’s stabbing spree that left three New Yorkers dead — but said the mental health and justice system failures go deeper.
A measured Adams called for Washington, Albany and the City Council to take action and fix the “broken” mental health system that didn’t help the mentally ill Ramon Rivera, 51, before he allegedly randomly stabbed three people to death last week.
“If we don’t do something about it, we could see incidents like this taking place,” Adams said during his weekly off-topic briefing at City Hall.
“Can the city do more? You’re darn right we can,” he said. “But our federal government can do more, our state government can do more, our (City Council) partners across the hall can do more, we all could do more.”
The mayor also gently swatted aside outrage over the early release of Rivera — a homeless man with a lengthy rap sheet — just a month before the Nov. 18 spree. He said a technicality had allowed Rivera’s “good time release,” despite his assault of a correction officer.
As Adams spoke, City Hall distributed a timeline of Rivera’s months-long stint in New York City’s jails, leading up to his ultimate release in October.
Rivera, who has a long criminal history, was arrested in February on a burglary charge. In May, he assaulted a corrections officer in a Bellevue Hospital psych ward — an incident previously reported by The Post.
Adams said because this assault unfolded before Rivera was sentenced to 364 days in jail in the burglary case, it actually couldn’t be used against him when officials tallied up deductions for his Oct. 17 release on good behavior.
He also noted that prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office had requested — and a judge granted — that Rivera’s 90-day sentence for assaulting the guard be served at the same time as his punishment for the burglary conviction.
City Hall officials said they’re still reviewing whether the good time loophole is a policy issue or a law — and whether it can be changed.
Adams’ account of unavoidable technicalities leading to Rivera’s release wasn’t as clear-cut as he presented, some law-enforcement sources contended.
Prosecutors with Bragg’s office had bundled Rivera’s burglary felony charges into a single case, keeping him in jail rather than state prison. And a judge didn’t look a Rivera’s long criminal record, including out-of-state charges, when considering the lenient sentence, the sources contended.
But Adams argued that regardless of how long Rivera served, he still would have posed a danger.
“He needed help, you know,” he said. “If he would have got out 90 days later and stabbed three people, it’s as bad.”
Even though Rivera exited the jail system “stabilized,” having received mental health help, that safety net of care fell through during his brief month of freedom Adams said.
Rivera ended up at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter, a congregate homeless facility in Manhattan that’s far from an ideal setting to monitor mentally ill people’s care, medication and potential drug use, said Brian Stettin, the mayor’s senior adviser for severe mental illness.
“There is a need for a robust residential option that we are working diligently to create, and I expect it’s something the mayor will have more to say on in the future,” Stettin said.
The hint of support for more residential care for mentally ill people could signal a turnaround from the mayor — who has repeatedly pushed for more power to remove disturbed individuals from the streets against their will.
A City Council source said lawmakers have advocated for more funds to cover supportive housing, or post-jail release care, but have been stonewalled by City Hall. There are currently only 180 such beds in the city, and a request for another 320 has languished, according to the source.
“This is the first time [the mayor] has talked about this. I wish he would talk about more than just involuntary commitment with the state. We need them to add more beds,” the source said.
Adams’ remarks about Rivera and mental health unfolded as potential gubernatorial — or mayoral — hopeful Rep. Ritchie Torres held a news conference reiterating his stance that the jailbird’s early release is a “failure that squarely belongs to the city.”
Torres called Rivera’s release an act of cruelty, both against a mentally ill man and the general public.
“The city must have a policy of prohibiting early release for those with serious mental illness and those who pose a risk, not only to themselves but to the general public,” he said. “If Ramon Rivera had never been released early, and if he had been made to serve his full 12-month sentence, then the three New Yorkers he murdered would still be alive.”
But Torres, a Democratic congressman who represents a Bronx district, also laid blame on the federal government. He called for the feds to repeal a policy excluding Medicaid funds from going to institutions for mental disease.
“The federal government must unlock federal funding for inpatient psychiatric care,” he said.
Adams said he had reached out to Torres over the congressman’s letter deeming the mayor and Gov. Kathy Hochul “complicit” in the stabbing spree, but the rep hadn’t returned his message.
Torres said he had received message from an unknown number — and signed “Eric” — asking him to call.
“I know a lot of Erics,” he said.
Later Tuesday, Torres posted on X that he’d had a “productive” talk with Adams about Rivera’s case.
“I had a productive conversation with Mayor Eric Adams, who reassured me that the City is reexamining the ‘good behavior’ policy that led to the early release of Ramon Rivera,” the post said.
“I fully support the Mayor’s efforts to build mental health institutions in the City. The shortage of inpatient psychiatric care has become too glaring to ignore.”
— Additional reporting by Joe Marino
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