The individual who assaulted me seemingly out of nowhere while I was simply making my way to my job two years back was apprehended on August 18. Yet, the celebration feels rather hollow. The decision of the well-known lenient Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to set his bail at a mockingly minimal $1 was more than disappointing. Fortunately, the man accused, Kamieo Caines, is currently held at Rikers Island. Since he was caught trying to deal drugs to an undercover officer just before his arrest, he is facing additional charges. The drug-related case was assigned to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan, under which Caines’ bail was stipulated at $200,000. Interestingly, even though Caines had been a person of interest in my assault case for a while, he was only taken into custody after being charged for drug-related offences in Midtown this month.
Kamieo Caines, a 36-year-old with a history of 20 previous arrests, was on parole when he assaulted me. However, his apprehension took a whole two years. By then, the legal window to prosecute my case had expired. Police were only able to press charges for my assault as they were targeting Caines for the drug case – an operation that fortuitously kept the clock running on my case, as a law enforcement source explained to me.
The elusive question that haunts me along with countless other victims of NYC’s crime spree is a simple but potent one: What led to such a delay in apprehending Caines? This individual attacked me two years prior, on my daily commute to work.
I managed to capture a snap of Caines in the vicinity of Chambers Street and Broadway just moments after he had struck me unsuspectingly at about 10 in the morning of August 8, 2023. Without uttering a word, he fled towards the nearby subway line soon after the assault. I promptly turned the photograph over to the investigation authorities.
His parole officer subsequently confirmed Caines’ identity to the law enforcement officials in relation to my case. Caines was only located and arrested when he was charged with drug-related offenses, following which, the bail was decided at an unambiguous $200,000.
The leniency towards simple assault — a misdemeanor, seems baffling. In a post-2019 bail reform world, the offense isn’t eligible for bail — a fact well acknowledged by officials. Had Caines been caught soon after my assault two years prior, he would have been on the streets quite swiftly.
This sense of a recurring cycle is another source of ire for law enforcement officials and serves to push them towards the brink of disillusionment. The frustration intensifies when you find yourself on the victim’s end.
However, the question remains; how can repeat felony offenders continuously evade the justice system? Recorded instances of such misdemeanor assaults are staggeringly high. NYPD data shows that there have been 29,963 such assaults just this year. This figure shows a minor 2.6% decline from the 30,754 attacks witnessed last year, but compared to five years prior, it’s a disconcerting 37.5% increase.
Caines’ arrest took place at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and West 35th Street in Midtown on August 18. The arrest was made after police officers noticed him involved in a drug deal. Upon searching Caines, they found 17 crack vials and seven heroin packets on his person.
Investigators from the NYPD Narcotics Bureau had placed Caines under the radar since he reportedly sold almost three ounces of cocaine to undercover cops across two days in November 2022 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. On this basis, he was charged with three counts of illegal substance sale.
Caines’ criminal record has a disturbingly long list of 20 prior arrests for serious offenses, including assault and weapon possession, as per law enforcement sources.
In a 2017 incident, he was convicted for assaulting two individuals with a box cutter during the evening rush at the Fulton Street subway station in Manhattan. He served time at the Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County and was released on Jan. 18, 2022. His parole ended later that year on April 29.
While I reported my assault in the hope of saving others from a similar fate, it’s clear that more needs to be done to address the rising tide of random assaults in the city. All too often, unprovoked physical attacks like the one I sustained, leaving me winded and bruised, create an atmosphere of fear. It’s imperative that New York does more to protect residents and address inadequacies within its criminal justice system.
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