Fox News Repeats Lies from Nassau County Executive Falsely Tying Police Injury to Bail Reform
A Fox News story repeated false claims by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who spread misinformation by claiming that a man accused of injuring a police officer during a motor vehicle theft in 2020 was free because of bail reform.
The Briefing
A Fox News story repeated false claims by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who spread misinformation by claiming that a man accused of injuring a police officer during a motor vehicle theft in 2020 was free because of bail reform. This is untrue.
The story discusses the case of a man dubbed a “serial carjacker” by police, noting that he had been arrested for carjacking previously and was under court supervision through an ankle monitor on these charges. The article wrongly asserts that he was free because of bail reform. However, carjacking—charged as Robbery in the Second Degree under Penal Law § 160.10(3)—has always been a bail-eligible offense. His pretrial status was a matter of a judge’s discretion, as would be the case in any other jurisdiction in the nation. The man was not free because of bail reform, and it is a lie to suggest otherwise.
The claims by Blakeman, and their repetition by Fox News, are classic examples of the falsehoods spread to undermine these modest pretrial reforms and the media ecosystem in which they thrive. Bail reform is not implicated in this case in any way.
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