Monday, December 26, 2022

Police arrest suspect connected to the Dec. 19 murder on Avenue A

An East Harlem resident has been arrested in connection with the early morning murder on Dec. 19 on Avenue A

During a press conference this morning, police said Roland Codrington, 35, went on a violent rampage in which he allegedly stabbed two men to death and assaulted several other people before his arrest on Christmas Eve. 

Police said that 51-year-old local resident James Cunningham bumped into Codrington and his girlfriend around 1 a.m. on Dec. 19 outside Spike's on Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street. Video footage at the scene, police officials said, shows the two men arguing for about 20 seconds before the suspect is seen slashing Cunningham's throat. 

NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said the two men had no prior connection before Dec. 19. 

On Dec. 22, Codrington allegedly choked a bartender and stabbed two Good Samaritans at Teddy's Bar and Grill on Second Avenue in East Harlem. Media reports stated that Codrington showed up at the bar with a pit bull and a baseball bat. 

Early Friday morning, a 60-year-old pediatrician was found dead in Marcus Garvey Park. Police said that Codrington and the victim, Bruce Henry, got into a verbal spat that ended with the doctor being stabbed multiple times. 

The NYPD's investigation led detectives to Codrington and his girlfriend driving Henry's Mercedes-Benz in the Bronx on Christmas Eve. 

Essing said Codrington faces two counts each of murder and attempted murder and additional charges of second-degree assault and criminal mischief. 

Codrington had 12 prior arrests, Essing said. No word yet on charges against Codrington's girlfriend. 

Here's a video of today's press conference...

16 comments:

Unknown said...

A dangerous and angry violent individual who I have no doubt will have a long criminal history record of committing violent crimes. He should have never been allowed to go free to cause harm to others. Tragic situation.

JAMES said...

Living proof we need a Death Penalty.

BLAHBLAHBLAH said...

Clearly a 2022 Darwin award finalist. Kill a doctor and then steal his car for a joy ride. Lock him up and throw the key away.

Sarah said...

Obviously this is just a horrible story for all involved, and I hope the cops have caught the right guy. If he's guilty, he clearly needs to be off the streets for a long time. But can we not with the Fox News fascist rhetoric?

Anonymous said...

12 priors so of course he's free to walk the streets and kill innocent people. This time can he spend the rest of his life in solitary, where he belongs? And @Sarah, you don't need to be a fan of Fox News to be outraged that this piece of garbage was not taken off the streets permanently years ago.

Anonymous said...

So sad. All around fail of our justice system.

Neighbor said...

This is terrifying and very sad. Unfortunately it's yet another example of some serious problems with our legal system. Hopefully everyone - politicians and the public - can recognize that swinging between extremes on the legal front is not the solution. We need to lock up and hold repeat offenders without just throwing the book at everyone or holding people indefinitely. Those things are not mutually exclusive.

Anonymous said...

Glad this maniac is off the streets. What would ever prompt someone to act like this is just insane. Unfortunately the citizens of Manhattan and New York " Voted" for the politicians currently in office who make these lame laws favoring criminals.

Anonymous said...

If the reforming actually occurred when “locking them up” then this probably wouldn’t have happened. But no one wants to pay for the costs to reform a citizen in this country. They just want to change the rules and beat their heads against the wall. “Lock them up”, “lock less up”, “how do we make money off this?”.

An awful series of tragedies has occurred and all people can do is point to their short term political beliefs.

Anonymous said...

"If he's guilty, he clearly needs to be off the streets for a long time"

Why cant we say forever?

JAMES said...

100?% agree 11:41!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps not surprisingly, the NY Post has pretty complete coverage of his arrest and incarceration record. This rampage and murder spree looks like an escalation, but he also seemed to be seeking to attack. Really scary.

Anonymous said...

Hope
GF is charged too… she never turned him in

Anonymous said...

Typical lawlessness we have had for probably 2 years now. Criminals who should have most definitely been behind bars are out committing even worse crimes than before and the innocent victims are the ones who pay . Shame on the Mayor and the Governor for letting this take place over and over again. Don't they give a damn about anyone but themselves.

Anonymous said...

In fairness to the mayor, he has been to Albany several times to try to talk some sense into members of the New York State legislature but to no avail. NYS Legislators like Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Carl Heastie with their terrible and poorly thought out liberal progressive agenda have passed criminal justice reforms such as no bail rules which have been devastating for NYC business owners and its citizens. Shoplifting is out of control and violent crimes against citizens of NYC are on the increase. Repeat criminal offenders who are arrested are released and do not bother to show up for their court dates and are served with bench warrants that they ignore just to continue to commit crimes again and again. We need our state legislators in Albany to come back to reason and common sense.

Sarah said...

"12 priors so of course he's free to walk the streets and kill innocent people."

12 charges isn't 12 convictions. C'mon. This is a bad guy. There's still no need to carry water for the cops.

"Why cant we say forever?"

Because I don't feel like paying ~$80K a year to house a 70-year-old in execrable conditions. Do you? At a certain point, incredibly long sentences (here I'm talking more than ~25 years) don't act as deterrents, they don't improve safety (as 70-year-olds rarely go on murder sprees), they just pile up the taxpayer costs. So, yes, generally I think there's a point beyond which super-long sentences don't do any good.