Add The New York Post on Google The violent parolee charged with killing two men in a vicious 48-hour robbery spree should never have been freed — and Gov. Kathy Hochul is to blame, GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman said Tuesday.
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, said the state parole board should never have released accused double-killer Jesus Acosta in April after he did 10 years in state prison for felony assault — and should not have been free to kill a beloved Brooklyn dad.
“I’m going to appoint people to the parole board who put safety first, who put community first, who care about public safety,” Blakeman told reporters outside America’s Best Wings and Pizza on Rockaway Avenue in Brownsville, where deli worker MD Yousuf was shot dead on Aug. 23.
“What was the purpose of letting this violent felon out, and, obviously, they didn’t do their homework on what type of individual this was, because this individual committed two murders,” he said. “And just let out of prison by a parole board. How many families have to be hurt and torn apart before we get some sanity in our criminal justice system here in New York State?”
Acosta is charged with stabbing Yousuf during a robbery at the wings joint, striking the father of two in the head and wounding another man in the leg before running off.
Yousuf was rushed to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said Acosta wasn’t done, and allegedly robbed a bodega on 149th Street in the Bronx around 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday, where he is accused of shooting and killing 33-year-old customer Tayvon Shuler.
The NYPD caught up with the ex-con at a Bronx park Saturday, and he is charged with both murders. The suspect now faces life in prison without chance of parole if he is convicted.
Blakeman said he should never have been on the streets in the first place.
Acosta was sent to state prison for shooting a 20-year-old man during a scuffle on a No. 2 train on May 5, 2015, and was later convicted of felony assault and weapons possession.
“Here in Brownsville, again, and up in the Bronx, we had a murder of two individuals,” he said. “It didn’t have to happen. That’s because of Kathy Hochul and her policies that have made us all less safe.
“And I will tell you right now, when I become governor, I am going to ask for the resignation of every one of those parole board members, and I’m going to appoint people who look after the safety of communities first, and the criminals last.”
Blakeman also cited the fatal stabbing of 32-year-old Bank of America executive Erin Piacenti and wounding of a 68-year-old tourists in Times Square on Monday, calling it “completely unacceptable.”
The knife-wielding suspect in that case, Pamela Cisneros, 49, was shot and killed by police when she lunged at cops in a dramatic caught-on-video encounter.
