An NYPD officer assigned to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Gracie Mansion security detail was indicted Thursday on attempted murder and other charges after prosecutors said he held a man at gunpoint and fired into a parked car while off duty in the Bronx, striking a 30-year-old passenger in the head.
Officer Jonathan Baez, 44, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Bronx Supreme Court.
Prosecutors alleged that the shooting capped an unauthorized hunt for Baez's stolen car that included more than 200 searches of restricted NYPD databases. The man Baez allegedly shot remains in the hospital on a ventilator.
The NYPD has suspended Baez without pay and said its Force Investigation Division referred the case to the Bronx district attorney's office.
"Police officers are sworn to serve and protect the public, and even when they are off duty, they are expected to conduct themselves with integrity," Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
She added that Baez "held a man at gunpoint, then fired his pistol into a vehicle and wounded a passenger in the head, causing a life-altering injury."
According to the indictment, Baez approached a man around 9 p.m. on March 16 in front of 167 West 231st St. in Kingsbridge, pointed his off-duty firearm, ordered him to the ground and straddled him with the gun aimed at his back. Moments later, Baez fired two shots into a nearby white Hyundai Genesis, striking the passenger, prosecutors said.
Two days earlier, Baez's 2024 Honda CR-V had been stolen from his Riverdale apartment building and a white Hyundai Genesis appeared in surveillance footage of the theft, according to the indictment.
Between March 15 and March 16, Baez conducted more than 200 unauthorized searches of NYPD systems, including the Domain Awareness System, license plate readers and dispatch records, in an effort to locate both vehicles, prosecutors said. His Honda has not been recovered.
Baez, a 12-year veteran of the department, faces two counts of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, multiple firearm and computer trespass counts and official misconduct.
Justice Laurence Busching set bail at $100,000 cash, a $250,000 insurance company bond or a $250,000 partially secured bond. Court records show Baez posted bail.
He is due back in court on Oct. 2.
The Police Benevolent Association, which represents the city's rank-and-file officers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Baez's attorney, Mark Bederow, declined to discuss the allegations.
"Like anyone else, police officer or not, Jonathan is entitled under the Constitution to a presumption of innocence," he said.
