‘Failed many’: Queens judge blasts mental health system during arraignment of Jabez Chakraborty

Jabez Chakraborty was charged with attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon after charging at officers with a knife during a mental health crisis. Photo via Chakraborty family

By Jacob Kaye

A Queens judge decried the state’s mental health system on Friday during the arraignment of Jabez Chakraborty, a 22-year-old man diagnosed with schizophrenia who charged at a cop with a knife after his family called 911 for medical help last month.

Queens Supreme Court Justice Jessica Earle-Gargan, who presides over the Queens Mental Health Court, called Chakraborty’s case “extremely difficult” as the Queens man was arraigned on attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon charges while in the hospital recovering from wounds he suffered after being shot by police officer on Jan. 26 in his family’s home.

Chakraborty, who pleaded not guilty to the charges on Friday, was in the throes of an escalating mental health crisis when his family called 911 in the hopes that medics would come to their Briarwood home and involuntarily remove the 22-year-old for treatment. Instead, two police officers showed up and were met by Chakraborty, who was wielding a knife and moving toward them. Police officer Tyree White fired his gun, hitting Chakraborty four times.

In the weeks that followed, advocates and elected officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, called on Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz not to prosecute Chakraborty, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia three years ago and who was scheduled to begin increasing his treatment at a Queens psychiatric hospital the day after the shooting.

But Katz rebuffed those calls and charged Chakraborty on Friday, further calling for the judge to send him to Rikers Island, the city’s jail complex where mental health and medical care have been found to be severely lacking.

Earle-Gargan said determining whether Chakraborty should be released ahead of his trial, be given bail or be sent to Rikers was complex. After hearing arguments from prosecutors and Chakraborty’s attorneys with the Legal Aid Society, Earle-Gargan paused the proceeding for around 10 minutes. When she returned, she called the case a “tragic situation, to say the least.”

“The mental health system in this state has failed many,” the judge said.

The judge set bail against Chakraborty at $50,000 cash or $100,000 partially secured bond. She said remanding the 22-year-old, who remains in critical condition in Jamaica Hospital and unable to walk, would be “inappropriate.”

The view was shared by Chakraborty’s attorneys, who bashed the DA’s office for arguing that the 22-year-old should be held in jail.

“It would be inhumane to put someone like this in prison,” Shanaz Chowdhury, one of Chakraborty’s attorneys, said.

Laura Crowley Eraso, Chakraborty’s other attorney, described the DA’s wish to remand Chakraborty as "unconscionable and deeply disturbing.”

Katz defended her office’s request and the charges brought against the man, telling reporters in a rare press conference after the Friday arraignment that she was “duty bound to follow the facts, evidence and circumstances where they lead us.”

The district attorney said that bringing the charges also would be the first step toward forcing Chakraborty into a mental health treatment program through the courts. While she didn’t commit to seeking a mental health disposition, she noted that bringing the criminal case wouldn’t “preclude” the alternative path.

The DA’s decision was bashed by Chakraborty’s family, who previously accused prosecutors and police of taking their phones and interrogating them in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

“Jabez is recovering from multiple surgeries, handcuffed to a hospital bed,” Juli Chakraborty, the 22-year-old’s mother said in a statement. “He has a long, difficult recovery ahead, and now DA Katz wants to put him in prison. Hasn't he suffered enough? Locking him up will destroy his life. All we want is for him to be able to heal.”

“DA Katz must have no heart at all,” the mother added. “Why does she want to torture a young man who has already suffered so much? Our family is demanding that she drop these charges against Jabez and that he be unshackled as he recovers.”

Chakraborty was video conferenced into the arraignment from the hospital on Friday. He burst into tears multiple times as prosecutors described the events that led to the shooting.

The police shooting has reignited conversations about Mamdani’s plan to create a Department of Community Safety, which could potentially make it so police are not the primary responders to mental health crises.

On Friday, Katz didn’t go as far as to endorse Mamdani’s proposal, but lauded the mayor for getting New Yorkers to examine the city’s current response to mental health crises.

“It would be great if the system was able to fix this issue and work with this defendant before this incident happened,” the DA said. “Wouldn't it be great not to be here talking about filing charges against someone when the police were defending themselves?”

“But the mental health system didn't work for whatever reason,” she added. “Or maybe it did, or maybe it didn’t, but we still need to assess that.”