NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Bronx judge said the testimony of an NYPD officer against drill rapper C Blu, who was accused of shooting a police officer, was misleading and “had no value,” the New York Daily News reported.
At the hearing where Judge Naita Semaj ruled that 16-year-old Carmin “C Blu” Williams should be tried as a minor, she said that “clear” video appeared to show police carrying out an arbitrary search on Jan. 18 in Belmont.
Furthermore, it seems to Semaj that the video indicates the gun went off when arresting officers Kaseem Pennant and Taulant Gjonbalaj grabbed at Williams’ sides. If this is the case, the officers’ actions caused both Pennant and Williams to be struck by the bullet.
Gjonbalaj testified that Williams was a member of a “disorderly crowd,” that he refused to take his hands out of his pockets and that he fought the officers as they tried to arrest him.
Police say it was during this fight that Williams fired the gun through his own leg, hitting Pennant.
Semaj’s analysis paints an entirely different picture.
“There was absolutely zero reason for any of those officers to approach this individual,” she said per the Daily News. “They approached him, they detained him, they searched him, and no officer even bothered to come up with a halfway legitimate reason for any of that.”
Semaj said that Williams “literally does everything you tell your child to do when they’re approached by cops. He literally kept his hands up. He literally tried to record to make sure there was proof. He answered questions he had no obligation to answer.”
Williams and Pennant were both hospitalized following the incident and have since recovered.
Mayor Eric Adams took advantage of the incident with Williams to denounce a 2019 bail reform law despite the law having no impact on the case, The New York Times reported.
“New Yorkers should all be outraged that a repeat offender, accused of shooting at a police officer, is today walking free on bond because judges are precluded from even considering danger to the community,” Adams said in a statement.
Williams was held on $200,000 bail after a judge declined prosecutors’ request he be held without bail. The bail reform law did not impact this case.
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