{"id":264836,"date":"2026-06-12T19:52:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/264836\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T19:52:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:52:47","slug":"family-of-bronx-man-critically-injured-by-vigilante-cop-outraged-after-judge-sets-bail-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/264836\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of Bronx man critically injured by vigilante cop outraged after judge sets bail"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a man left in a vegetative state after an off-duty vigilante cop mistook him for a car thief and shot him in the head<\/a> was outraged after a Bronx judge granted the police officer bail and let him back onto the street.<\/p>\n

Officer Jonathan Baez posted bail and was released just hours after he turned himself in Thursday to face attempted murder charges<\/a> for shooting 31-year-old Darielvi Henriquez in the back of the head.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to pay his bail, be released, and be out there,\u201d said the victim\u2019s sibling, Wellington Henriquez. \u201cI\u2019m very upset. It wasn\u2019t an animal that got shot, but my brother. That he got bail means they\u2019re not taking my brother\u2019s injuries seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henriquez was riding in a luxury sedan when Baez, who believed the car was linked to the theft of his personal SUV, opened fire and struck him in the back of the head.<\/p>\n

The Bronx resident is currently on a ventilator at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center<\/a>. His brother said he may never recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother is still in critical condition,\u201d said Wellington. \u201cHe\u2019s been in the hospital for three months. He can\u2019t move and he can\u2019t speak. We\u2019re not sure he ever will. He\u2019s in a vegetative state. We\u2019re praying that will change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both prosecutors and the victim\u2019s family say Henriquez had nothing to do with the theft of Baez\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother is innocent,\u201d said Henriquez\u2019s brother. \u201c(His friends) were giving him a ride to a restaurant on Dyckman to watch Dominican League baseball against Venezuela. They were going out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only want justice for my brother,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Henrique worked as a parking garage attendant and had recently returned from a trip to Miami when he was shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good young man who never had any troubles with anybody,\u201d said the victim\u2019s father, Cecillio Henriquez. \u201cHe\u2019s always been friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henriquez was riding shotgun in a Hyundai Genesis on March 16 when Baez began tailing the sedan on the Cross Bronx Expressway and the Major Deegan Expressway until the vehicle exited the highway at E. 230th St.<\/p>\n

When the Genesis\u2019 driver got out on W. 231st St. near Albany Crescent in Kingsbridge about 9:15 p.m. Baez threw the driver on the ground, straddled him and pressed a gun to his back. He then ordered the Genesis driver to call 911 and say he was being held at gunpoint.<\/p>\n

It was then, as another passenger slipped into the driver seat and tried to flee, that Baez fired two shots into the vehicle, striking Henriquez.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, Baez\u2019s 2024 Honda CR-V was stolen from outside his home. Video reviewed by Baez showed a Hyundai Genesis pulling up next to his SUV before it was stolen.<\/p>\n

Baez conducted over 215 unauthorized personal searches of NYPD databases to track down his vehicle and the Genesis, prosecutors say.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went from a crime victim on Saturday night, March 14, 6 p.m., to a vigilante, exercising over 200 searches of powerful NYPD databases,\u201d Assistant Bronx District Attorney Jon Veiga said during the officer\u2019s arraignment in Bronx Supreme Criminal Court Thursday.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say the original driver of the Genesis who Baez was straddling in the street as well as the passenger who then jumped behind the wheel may have been involved in the SUV theft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe person who was shot in the head, we have conclusive proof was actually not involved in the theft of the officer\u2019s car \u2014 and he\u2019s the one who\u2019s lying on a ventilator right now,\u201d said Veiga.<\/p>\n

Baez, assigned to the NYPD\u2019s Intelligence Bureau, was stripped of his gun and shield and put on modified duty in the wake of the shooting and later suspended without pay.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say the shooting victim is currently unable to move anything but his eyes and is unaware when his family is in the room with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had emergency surgery but the bullet was lodged too deep to fully remove it,\u201d Veiga said. \u201cSo suffice to say he\u2019s in very grave condition today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baez was arraigned on a raft of charges including attempted murder, assault, criminal use of a firearm, computer trespass and kidnapping and ordered held on $250,000 bond.<\/p>\n

The 12-year NYPD veteran faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a man left in a vegetative state after an off-duty vigilante cop mistook him for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,102604,5185,102602,102606,102313,9,24,63,129,131,130,102605,102603],"class_list":["post-264836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-cecillio-henriquez","tag-cross-bronx-expressway","tag-darielvi-henriquez","tag-henriquez","tag-jonathan-baez","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-vegetative-state","tag-wellington-henriquez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}