One man who was arrested this past weekend after allegedly causing multiple thousands of dollars in damage to the interior of a New York City McDonald’s while wielding an ax has officially been released from jail without having any sort of bail.
A video captured of the incident highlights a scary verbal altercation between a few men and Michael Palacios, the 31-year-old suspect in the incident, that ended up leading to a bout of pushing and shoving that escalated quickly into a fist fight kicking off. After the incident seemed to have cooled down slightly, a few of the men continued to shout and yell at Palacios who proceeded to set down his backpack, crack it open, and pulled out and brandished a hatchet.
As soon as Palacios brandished the hatchet, the rest of the aggressive men backed off rapidly as they pleaded with the ax-wielding suspect to calm down. Video highlighted Palacios allegedly smashing the store tables, shattering a large pane of glass, and aggresively confronting other various patrons of the restaurant.
“The suspect removed an ax from his backpack and menaced the unknown males,” released the NYPD in their public statement regarding the incident. “The suspect intentionally caused property damage to the establishment. The individual was taken into custody by responding officers. A search incident to a lawful arrest, an additional knife was recovered from his backpack. Victims did not report any injuries.”
Palacios was officially slammed with charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief and possession of weapons.
WATCH:
Another day in nyc pic.twitter.com/OCOPIkIzuO
— World Latin Honey (@WorldLatinHoney) September 17, 2022
Palacios was “released without bail at his arraignment” this past Sunday, and the New York Post reported that none of the charges against the suspect are “eligible for bail under the state’s lenient criminal-justice reforms.”
One alleged witness to the incident stated to local outlets that the entire ordeal kicked off in the wake of Palacios getting into an argument with a woman who had ultimately ended up rejecting him.
“So, basically he got into an argument with a girl, and then the girl rejected him,” stated the alleged witness. “She didn’t want to talk to him. He kept going at her.”
The Republican gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), issued his own statement on the matter by claiming that it was “just another day in Kathy Hochul’s New York.”
“After we fire Hochul on November 8th, we are taking back our streets!” Zeldin went on to say.
Much later, Zeldin responded again to the news that the suspect had been freed from jail: “In Kathy Hochul’s New York, you can walk into McDonald’s, use your axe to hack up tables and walls, swinging it wildly at other customers, and be released from custody before your fries get cold.”
“Cashless bail must be repealed!” exclaimed Zeldin. “Judges need discretion to weigh dangerousness.”