NYPD detective who survived stabbing attack makes first public remarks since leaving hospital
The NYPD detective who survived a robbery in which two illegal immigrants allegedly stabbed him seven times in the Bronx is expected to hold a news briefing at 2 p.m. Tuesday to discuss his recovery.
Jose Mercedes, a 33-year-old detective with 10 years on the job, was off-duty and cleaning the trunk of his personal vehicle when two men attacked him from behind, the NYPD said previously. Despite his injuries, he chased after them before they sped away on an e-bike.
The suspects, identified as D’Angelo Caraballo, 25, and Sneider Mejia, 24, allegedly fled to Massachusetts, where they were later arrested in a basement hideout. They are being held without bail and are expected to face attempted murder charges once extradited to New York.
NYPD DETECTIVE RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER BEING STABBED MULTIPLE TIMES IN BRONX
Detective Jose Mercedes was wheeled out of Jacobi Medical Center in Morris Park on Monday before standing up in front of a group of clapping officers. (NYPD)
Both are illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic with criminal records, Fox News Digital reported previously.
Caraballo had been arrested in December 2024 and released before Immigration and Customs Enforcement could lodge a detainer request.
As Mercedes recovers from his injuries, the city is reeling from an unrelated ICE-involved shooting that critics say could have been avoided if local leaders abandoned sanctuary policies in favor of public safety.
Dangelo Rafael Jean Caraballo, 25, (left) and Sneider Mejia Bautista, 24, (right) both Dominican citizens living illegaly in the United States, are accused of stabbing off-duty NYPD Detective Jose Mercedes. (Department of Homeland Security; NYPD)
"The politicians are the ones who want to come up with these ridiculous laws because they are trying to just, you know, make their base happy," said Vincent Vallelong, the president of the NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association. "They're putting people in harm's way."
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Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old Dominican national with a prior robbery arrest and pending drug charges in New York, is recovering from a gunshot wound to the neck after allegedly attempting to flee ICE agents and accelerating toward federal vehicles used to block his way, according to authorities.
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Belgal survived, and a 5-year-old child in his vehicle was OK.
In this image taken from New York City Police Department body camera video, law enforcement personnel tend to the suspect, who was shot by federal immigration officers on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York, as he drove his car with a 5-year-old boy inside. (New York City Police Department via AP)
Although the NYPD had no involvement in that case, critics seized the incident to demand cuts to a special unit trained for crowd control, parade security and other special operations, Vallelong said.
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"Calls were made to disband the Strategic Response Group even though they were in no way involved in the incident or its aftermath," he said. "Darializa Avila Chevalier, the unhinged Democrat Socialist Congressional nominee, ranted that NYPD personnel trying to keep order at the hospital where the criminal was being treated were 'escalating' the situation by trying to contain rampaging protestors."
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