Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has once again reminded the country of the dangerous consequences when politics and incompetence collide.
His office just dropped the case against a woman accused of sucker-punching pro-life activist Savannah Craven Antao—not because the evidence was weak, not because the charges were questionable, but because prosecutors missed a filing deadline.
The attack was caught on video. Antao was struck twice in the face while conducting a street interview, leaving her with cuts and medical bills. Yet justice evaporated into thin air, lost to a paperwork blunder.
“District Attorney Bragg’s shocking refusal to uphold justice only works to undermine confidence in the system, especially when our political climate has become as fraught as it is now,” said Christopher Ferrara, senior counsel for the Thomas More Society, which is representing Antao. He added: “Failing to prosecute these clear-cut charges sets a dangerous standard for how our society responds to violence against those engaging in democratic dialogue.”
The message could not be clearer: if you’re outspoken—especially conservative or pro-life—you can be assaulted in broad daylight, and the system may simply shrug.
Bragg has no problem pouring resources into soft-on-crime policies, but when it comes to protecting a woman exercising her First Amendment rights, suddenly deadlines take precedence over justice. His excuse? An “internal reassignment” led to the missed deadline. But apologies don’t stop violence, and excuses don’t heal victims.
The Thomas More Society is now pursuing a civil case, but it should never have come to this. This was a straightforward assault case that Bragg’s office either fumbled—or quietly buried.
A prosecutor’s duty is simple: enforce the law, not tilt the scales. Bragg’s office failed that duty spectacularly. And every time justice is botched like this, it chips away at the very foundation that justice is blind.
New Yorkers—and Americans watching—should demand better. Because if violent attacks against political activists can be tossed aside on “technicalities,” then the law no longer protects us equally. And once equal justice is gone, everything else begins to unravel.
