An off-duty NYPD detective identified himself as a cop six times while illegal immigrants stabbed him in a Bronx robbery, prosecutors say, a crime critics say sanctuary policies enabled.
Bronx prosecutors say Det. Jose Mercedes told his attackers he was a police officer at least six times as they stabbed him during an Oct. 2 street robbery, and the suspects kept going anyway. The two men later pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges and were ordered held without bail.
Prosecutors described a brazen ambush near E. 208th Street and Steuben Avenue as Mercedes stood at the trunk of his Mustang. Two suspects on a scooter closed in, one with a knife and the other grabbing for the detective’s chains.
Sneider Mejia, 24, allegedly drove the blade. D’Angelo Carabello, 25, ripped two chains from Mercedes’ neck, made off with one, and dropped the other at the scene, court statements show.
Mercedes fought back barefoot and collapsed two blocks later
Mercedes did not freeze. He fought, grabbed both men, and identified himself as an NYPD officer again and again. Bronx Assistant District Attorney Paul Irace told the court the detective kept his arms up while trying to restrain them.
“As defendant Mejia was stabbing the victim, he was aiming towards his upper torso, towards his head, neck, and upper body,” Irace said.
“Because of his actions in trying to restrain them and having his arms up, most of the stab wounds he received were in his arms.”
Irace added that almost two weeks later, Mercedes still did not have use of his left hand. The detective had surgery to repair tendons in that arm at a local Bronx hospital.
Even bleeding, Mercedes chased the pair barefoot for two blocks before he collapsed from blood loss. That kind of pursuit echoes other high-stakes police chases, including a case where Houston officers commandeered a car to run down an armed suspect.
Suspects cut their hair and ran to Massachusetts
While fleeing, Mejia and Carabello cut their hair and ditched their cellphones “in an attempt to disguise themselves,” Irace told the court. They turned up days later in a basement recording studio in Lynn, Massachusetts.
On Oct. 6, NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force, working with Boston authorities, found them there. Both men were extradited back to New York and led out of the 52nd Precinct stationhouse before arraignment.
Outside the stationhouse, Carabello offered a blunt motive to reporters: “I did it to eat.” Mejia yelled, “I didn’t do anything,” and later called out “Mama! Mama! Mama!” to a woman in the courtroom gallery as family members looked on.
Both men pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors charged them with attempted murder in the commission of a robbery. Mejia faces an added count of attempted murder of a police officer for allegedly wielding the knife. Their next court date is Dec. 3.
Both suspects were illegal immigrants with prior records
Federal authorities say Mejia and Carabello are illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic. A federal judge ordered Mejia deported in May 2025. He was later arrested in New York on a weapons possession case. Under the city’s sanctuary rules, the NYPD did not notify federal immigration authorities after that arrest.
Carabello had two open cases of his own, including gun possession and menacing a man with a knife. Those records sat unresolved while he remained free to roll up on an off-duty detective’s car. The pattern tracks other cases where prior contact failed to stop later violence, including a Sacramento killing tied to an illegal immigrant released after border processing.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin put the blame on non-cooperation with ICE and years of weak border policy.
“Despite prior arrests in New York, sanctuary politicians refused to cooperate with ICE and released them.”
“This horrific crime could have been prevented if it weren’t for Biden’s open borders and the ‘America Last’ policies of New York sanctuary politicians.”
That is the accountability question hanging over the case. A deportation order and local arrests did not keep Mejia off the street. Open cases did not keep Carabello off a scooter with a partner and a knife. An off-duty detective paid the price in blood.
Seven stab wounds and a walk out of Jacobi
Fox News reported Mercedes was stabbed and slashed seven times in the Norwood section of the Bronx during the chain robbery, then released from Jacobi Medical Center under his own power as fellow officers cheered.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch praised the detective’s grit after the attack and his exit from the hospital.
“Today, in another incredible feat of strength and determination, Detective Mercedes got up from his wheelchair and walked out of Jacobi Medical Center on his own two feet. Hundreds of members of the NYPD were there to cheer their brother on.”
The New York Post reported the wounds included the neck and leg, and that Mercedes later said he was on the mend. “I’m feeling much better, thank you,” the detective told the paper.
His recovery matters. So does the chain of decisions that left two men with immigration and criminal histories free to target him at his own car. NYPD work against serious crime continues on other fronts as well, from street violence to larger operations such as an NYPD-led trafficking crackdown that pulled dozens of victims out of exploitation.
Prosecutors say the evidence at arraignment was plain enough for no-bail holds: a scooter ambush, a knife aimed at the upper body, a detective announcing he was a cop six times, a barefoot chase, a flight to Massachusetts, and two defendants now facing attempted murder counts. Violent cases like this sit in the same public ledger as other bloody crimes that end in court, including a Minnesota murder verdict built on hard investigative work.
When illegal immigrants with deportation orders and open weapons cases can still stab a detective who keeps saying he is a cop, the policy failure is not abstract. It is measured in tendons, blood loss, and a left hand that would not work weeks later.
