A clearly frustrated Providence Mayor says he doesn't understand how two men, accused of murder in separate cases can be given home confinement.
Mayor Jorge Elorza met with the families Tyreik Grundy who was shot and jilled on Pope Street last spring. The families say that the no bail is almost like telling them that the lives of their loved ones is of no matter.
In addition to the family of Grundy, 23-year-old Andrei Bonilla spoke about their son.
Bonilla was in a car with a woman on Harwol Court when a man approached the car- had words with Bonilla and then allegedly shot the him.
The Mayor along with Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare says that the lack of bail and home confinement for dangerous suspects is sending a dangerous and depressing message to the community.
Mayor Elorza called in"demoralizing" to the men and women in blue of the police department that work long hours to break cases.
A spokesman for the court system has issued a statement in the aftermath of the news conference.
While acknowledging the emotions of the families, the spokesman said that the two suspects are not free.
" Law enforcement knows where they are, and if they violate the arrangement there will be consequences. The judge has protected the public by taking the defendants off the streets and protected the rights of the defendants pending trial, lest we forget the presumption of innocence that is central to our system of justice.”
The mayor says there is a need for reform out of the legislature. But he has not said anything about spearheading any legislature designed to change the current system.
(Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)