The man who terrorized a woman and her two little brothers with a knife at the Central Park Carousel was charged with menacing as a hate crime for making disparaging remarks about women during the incident, according to prosecutors.
Suspect Damien Greene-Ayala, 30 — who has an “extensive” criminal history outside of New York — ended up being freed without bail at his Monday night arraignment in Manhattan thanks to the state’s controversial criminal-justice reforms but was put on the highest level of supervised release, prosecutors said.
Greene-Ayala had allegedly berated the two kids, ages 9 and 6, and waved a knife at them at the famous attraction Sunday afternoon before turning his attention to the boys’ 27-year-old sister, prosecutors said during his arraignment.
“Women should not have rights, women should be independent, women are sh-t,” Greene-Ayala allegedly raged at the woman, according to his criminal complaint.
In addition to menacing as a hate crime, Greene-Ayala was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, weapon possession and aggravated harassment. But because the raps weren’t bail eligible, Judge Soma Syed sprung him on supervised release, prosecutors said.
During Greene-Ayala’s arraignment, prosecutors implored the judge to release the suspect on the “highest form of supervised release” given the severity of the incident and his “extensive” criminal history outside of New York.
“The defendant’s brazen actions left the victims, including the 9 and 6 year old boys, fearful for their safety,” prosecutors said during the hearing.
“Given the seriousness of these new allegations and his broad contacts with the criminal-justice system beyond the state of New York, the highest form of supervised release is necessary to ensure his return to court.”
Prosecutors rattled off a series of other criminal incidents involving Greene-Ayala that took place out of state.
In 2016, Greene-Ayala was convicted of a misdemeanor vehicular crime in Virginia, and in 2017, he was convicted of misdemeanor criminal mischief in Wisconsin, prosecutors said.
He also has several misdemeanors in Illinois and most recently, he faced disorderly-conduct charges in Florida in 2019, they said.
“As this case is not bail eligible, the People are requesting the highest form of supervised release as the least restrictive means to ensure the defendant returns to court,” a prosecutor told the judge.
The judge agreed to the most stringent release terms, which include having the suspect check in with a court-ordered program at least five times in at least the first month and at least one in-person check-in a week.
The suspect’s mother, who only identified herself as Katherine, told The Post on Tuesday that she wasn’t aware of the incident but added if the allegations are true, “he should be in a psych ward.
“He needs help. If he felt menaced or threatened by a mother and two children, that’s bizarre,” the mom said. “That’s off the wall, and in my opinion, he needs help. It’s very concerning.
“I’m trying to find him help. I’m having a hard time. But I wasn’t aware of this situation.”
Katherine said her son, who is gay, had a “very abusive and violent” father and that past traumas he’s endured have left him paranoid.
“He was never violent. He genuinely has not had issues with violence, but he has some trauma and some paranoia because of the trauma,” Katherine said.
“I tried to steer him in the right direction. But he has his own ideas about things and he wants to navigate his own way, so not that much.”
