When Will It End? When We Run Out Of Money, Or When His Liver Stops Functioning?

Michael Madison, the bane of the 7th Street Park, was released from the county jail sometime in early May, about a month ago.  This morning, he was due in front of City Court Judge John Connor to answer for the charge of rape which, as far as I can tell, he was arraigned for this past Saturday at 6:27 pm.  Madison has been in jail since then with a bail that was set by Connor at $25,000.

Madison is also scheduled to be in city court in front of Judge Roberts on Thursday to answer for 15 charges he accrued between May 27th and June 5th.  Yes, 15 charges in just a week and a half!  He was on a tear, as they say.  I have no doubt that all of the violations occurred in or very near the park, particularly on the north side along Columbia Street.  The 15 charges include Trespassing (7 of them -- he is not allowed to be on a few properties, including Lucky's gas station, formerly Citgo, across the street from the park), Harassment 2nd Physical Contact, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, Criminal Trespassing 2, Open Container and, last but not least, Indecent Exposure.  It's fucking dizzying, isn't it!

Madison's only recent Open Container ticket was issued by HPD on May 28th, with a scheduled court date on the 5th of June in front of Judge Connor.  That date was adjourned to the 11th.  That adjourned court date was then rescheduled to Roberts' court this Thursday, the 12th.  One wonders why such a simple matter needed to be put off twice (Madison rarely shows up for his court dates).

Here is a picture taken on May 30th at 12:20 pm showing Madison with a fresh violation ticket in hand while seated in his favorite park bench.  That ticket was for one of his 7 TRESPASS violations. (Typically, Madison just crumples the paper and throws it on the ground, though I don't know if that was the case here.)  He was scheduled to appear in front of Judge Roberts last Thursday for that ticket, but the court date was adjourned to this Thursday.  

Notice in the second picture that there were 3 HPD vehicles parked on Columbia Street to issue Madison yet another violation ticket (one of hundreds of them in the past several years, no doubt). Sergeant Tracy Roberts had just arrived in the white SUV, Captain David Miller was seated in the unmarked vehicle, and the patrol cop, whose name I do not know, issued Madison the ticket for trespassing, no doubt for being on the grounds of the gas station across the street.  Those two men had likely been there for at least ten minutes.  About a week later, Madison was charged with Rape 1: vag- forcible Compulsion.  How many Hudson cops did it take to find Madison for that charge and get him in front of the judge in handcuffs?  The entire force?

The cynic in me feels as though HPD and the Hudson City Court would rather spend time on Madison to make themselves appear busy than find a solution to the trouble he causes and the time, money and resources that he consumes and that we pay for (the County DA's Office and the County Public Defenders Office love the work, too!).  They should start by banning him from the 7th Street Park -- if he steps in the park, he's off to jail for trespassing.  

It seems like there is a much larger, systemic problem than just Michael Madison being a terror.  Were 3 cops, each arriving by vehicle and each making $40, $50 or $60 an hour, really needed to issue yet another Trespassing violation ticket to a well-known recidivist?  Don't they have something more pressing to take care of besides dealing with Michael Madison OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN WITH NO END IN SIGHT?  And why on earth did HPD's second-in-command feel the need to be there?  Was he there to make sure the ticketing went smoothly and Madison didn't crumple the ticket and litter the park with it?  AGAIN!

All of the information on Madison's court dates and charges are readily available on the New York ecourt website.  Click on WebCriminal.