Mayor Bloomberg blasted a Brooklyn judge Wednesday for allowing accused cop-killer Lamont Pride to walk free last month when he was in court on drug charges.
Pride, already a wanted man in North Carolina for a shooting, was nabbed by the NYPD in November near Coney Island for crack possession.
Judge Evelyn Laporte, a former prosecutor with a reputation for being "no softie", let Pride walk free, denying a $2,500 bail request from the District Attorney's office.
Because of a snafu, Pride's North Carolina arrest warrant did not have an extradition order.
On Monday, Pride allegedly shot and killed police officer Peter Figoski during a botched burglary attempt in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn.
"A judge here in New York not only didn't put him behind bars, didn't even think it was appropriate for bail," Bloomberg said Wednesday, according to The New York Daily News.
"The rap sheet in front of you shows this potentially dangerous person has a gun, has a criminal history," said Bloomberg. "Common sense says don't let him out until you make one phone call. It's not a lot of work to do to protect the public. It was not done."
Jeff Kern, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, disagreed with the mayor.
"Judges during arraignments, it's hectic, there's a lot of pressure," he told NBC New York. "In this case, there's not a lot the judge could have done for the warrant to hold Pride."
Coucilman Peter Vallone Jr., a former attorney himself, expressed outrage on his Facebook page.
"How the hell did a judge previously let this cop killer out with NO bail??" Councilman Vallone wrote. "This piece of trash had an OPEN WARRANT (whether or not it carried with it an extradition order), from NORTH CAROLINA."
Vallone also put the blame on officials in North Carolina.
"North Carolina what the hell??? I've handled thousands of arraignments as both a prosecutor and a defense atty and have NEVER seen a warrant for a shooting NOT require extradition?? Explain yourselves now, because 4 girls would still have their dad if you hadn't screwed that up and allowed a judge to make a terrible decision to set no bail."
Phone records obtained by NBC show the NYPD contacted Greensboro, North Carolina police to upgrade Pride's warrant with an extradition order which would've then forced Judge Laporte to keep Pride in custody. As of Wednesday however, Greensboro police, maintained they didn't receive a call from the NYPD until after Pride was already released.