A baby-faced teen charged with fatally running down a 4-year-old on her way to school earlier this month was granted bail Thursday. Victim Ariel Russo’s heartbroken mom, Sofia Russo, wailed after hearing her daughter’s accused killer, Franklin Reyes, could be freed on $50,000 bond or $25,000 cash. Reyes, 17 had been denied release since his arrest on June 4 immediately after the fatal upper West Side crash……Read more after the jump
Setting bail was “appropriate” in the case, Justice Gregory Carro said. Should you make bail, you have to be here on Aug. 7 at 9:30 a.m.,” he told Reyes. The teen who agreed, was crying and shaking nervously throughout the brief hearing, where he had at least two dozen family members and supporters in the gallery. “And certainly don’t get behind the wheel of a car,” the judge warned. Russo’s side was crushed by the news. Outside the courthouse, Ariel’s dad was livid.”My daughter’s dead, and this guy, he’s free. He’s going to have the summer. He’s going to be home. He’s going to play video games. He’s going to eat his mom’s home-cooked food. I’m never going to have my daughter back,” said Alan Russo.
“And all they have to do is come up with $25,000, and he walks. It’s not fair,” he said. Russo family attorney Sanford Rubenstein was disappointed with the bail ruling.
Let’s keep both families in our prayers…..
