The career criminal killed in a shootout with a wounded hero policeman had been on the streets since a Queens judge released him three months ago — even after prosecutors pressured him to lock him up.
Records reviewed by The Post show that Gary Worthy, 57, was already on lifetime parole after serving two felony sentences in state prison when he appeared in Queens Criminal Court on August 27 on new felony counts of assault and theft. Went before Judge Edward Daniels.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office asked that Worthy be held on $60,000 bail “based on the nature of the crimes and the criminal record of the accused,” a spokeswoman for DA Melinda Katz said Wednesday. Worthy’s parole officer requested that he be held without bail pending the same hearing.
But Daniels released Worthy without bail, and records show he remained free even after he was rearrested last week on drug possession and resisting arrest charges.
On Tuesday night, police said gunman Worthy tried to rob a Jamaica Bodega and a smoke shop before he confronted police, wounding an officer.
“He has been arrested several times while on parole,” a law enforcement source told The Post. “But apparently that’s not enough to bring him back. If he hadn’t died I’m sure his (parole officer) would be upset about missing his appointment.
“We interact with criminals every day and there is an untold comfort in knowing that there is someone out there watching over them, holding them accountable. But now after this it really shows that we are on our own.”
The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, which oversees the parole system, began proceedings to decommission Worthy after he was charged in August, but Daniels said the former con man was incarcerated, a spokeswoman for the agency said in an email Wednesday. Ordered to be released.
Under the law, the department has 24 hours to issue a warrant to bring a case before a judge, but the spokesperson said that “the judge has the sole authority to decide whether to remand or Be released on recognizance.”
According to the transcript of the August 27 court proceeding, Worthy’s parole officer said that despite occasionally calling, the ex-con had not come to a required meeting with him since April.
In the two cases against him, Worthy allegedly attacked his brother and a friend with a knife in separate incidents, in one saying, “I’ll kill you and I’ll shoot you,” the transcript shows.
In the second case, he warned, “I will cut you and throw you out of the balcony.”
At one point both the prosecutor and Worthy’s legal aid lawyer said he did not have access to a gun.
“The Court finds that release in this case does not present a substantial risk of failing to appear at initial or final (parole) revocation hearings and that non-monetary conditions would be the least restrictive means of securing his attendance at those proceedings.” , the judge said.
Daniels then ordered Worthy released but had to call his parole officer the next morning.
The state Office of Court Administration, which oversees the judicial system, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Daniels’ rulings in the case.
Worthy’s criminal history dates back to 1994, when he was sentenced to 16 years in state prison for murder—after he pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
He was released in 2008, but was arrested again on gun charges the following year. He was sentenced to two to four years in prison and released with lifetime parole in 2021, records show.
Records show he remained at large despite seven more arrests, including three pending Queens cases for assault, theft and felony drug possession.
The most recent cases saw him charged with assault on April 19 and theft on June 7 – these cases brought him before Daniels in court on August 27.
He was arrested again last week on drug charges and resisting arrest – and then released.
Security camera footage obtained by The Post captured Worthy’s latest alleged crimes on Tuesday.
At about 5:30 p.m., he went to the Village Market & Grill on Hillside Avenue in Jamaica and attempted to rob the retailer. The video shows Worthy taking a gun out of a plastic bag and slamming it on the counter after ordering a $9 serving of rice, beans and chicken.
“They told me not to move,” store clerk Satveer Kaur said Wednesday. “I was scared because he didn’t ask me for money or anything. So I was scared that he wanted to kill me.
“I ran down to the basement,” Kaur said. “When I was downstairs we heard shots.”
She said Worthy shot at the cash register but was unable to take the money inside. He then exited the store, got on his bike and walked away, the clerk said.
Then Kaur called the police.
About an hour later, police said Worthy Guy went into a small smoke shop on Brewer Boulevard and asked for a pack of cigarettes – then he shot clerk Abdullah Abdullah.
“He said, ‘Give me all your money,'” Abdullah said. “I don’t even know how much money I gave him but I think maybe he wasn’t happy with it.
“He shot at me, one bullet, and it hit me between my legs,” he said. “It hit the glass at the front of the shop. I said, ‘I gave you everything, you can check yourself.’ He said, ‘Okay, give me more Newport.’ I gave him Newport 100s and Newport shorts, maybe a 12 pack.
Abdullah said Worthy then told him to get down and left the store.
Outside, veteran NYPD policeman Rich Wong confronted Worthy, who turned and fired at the officers, striking Wong in the thigh. The injured policeman returned fire, hitting Worthy in the face and killing him.
A 26-year-old spectator was also injured and is expected to survive.
Wong was released from Jamaica Hospital on Wednesday as more than 200 NYPD cops, including his own from the 103rd Precinct, cheered him on.
Outside the hospital, NYPD PBA Chairman Patrick Hendry railed against the broken criminal justice system that has allowed Worthy to remain free despite his repeated arrests and lifetime parole.
“Something needs to change, and it needs to change immediately,” he said. “The police feel that the system is not with us. Police officers will always support people outside the community. We will always be there for them. We will always remove criminals from the streets.
“But we need this system to support us.”
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