The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

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‘Beautiful impromptu moment’: Trump walks offstage to embrace parents of boy, 12 , killed by a repeat offender

by

BS BULLETIN

    • Trump interrupted his Long Island speech and walked offstage to embrace the grieving parents of 12-year-old Jacob Freytes.
    • Jacob was riding his new bicycle when police say he was caught in gunfire outside a Bronx bodega.
    • The accused shooter, William Ferrer, has a lengthy arrest history and now faces murder and other charges.

For a few minutes Friday, the politics stopped.

President Donald Trump was addressing police officers and supporters at the Nassau County Police Academy on Long Island when he began talking about one of New York City’s most heartbreaking recent crimes — the death of 12-year-old Jacob Freytes.

Jacob was riding his bicycle near a Bronx bodega on July 25 when gunfire erupted during a confrontation.

Police say Jacob wasn’t involved. He was simply a kid on a bike. A bullet struck him in the shoulder. He was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he died. Two other people were wounded.

Trump began recounting the case:

“Two weeks ago, a 12-year-old boy named Jacob Freytes … was tragically shot and killed by a stray bullet fired by a repeat offender in a gun battle.”

Then Trump mentioned Jacob’s parents — mother Migdalia Martinez and father Jesus Freytes, a retired NYPD detective sergeant. Trump had apparently heard they might be in the audience.

“They are incredible people, and I think I heard that they may be with us today. Are you with us?”

They were. Trump spotted them. And then something happened that wasn’t on the teleprompter. The president left the stage. He walked over to Jacob’s parents, embraced his visibly emotional mother and father, and quietly spoke with them before returning to the podium.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a “beautiful impromptu moment.”

Trump embraced Martinez as she cried, kissed her on the cheek and then hugged Jacob’s father.

When Trump returned to the microphone, his tone said it all.

“Incredible. Horrible story. What a horrible thing.”

Then he added:

“But we’re going after them. These are bad, sick people.”

And that’s where a touching human moment collided with the much larger political argument over crime in New York.

The details of Jacob’s final afternoon are almost unbearable in their ordinariness. He had a new bicycle. Neighbors remembered how happy he was riding it around.

According to local reporting, Jacob had gone to the nearby store to buy a ball when the shooting erupted. His mother later described the last time she saw her son.

“I gave him a kiss, and I walked out, and we always do a little dolphin kiss.”

Then she went to work. Around 5 p.m., the phone rang. Her son had been shot. When she reached the hospital, she said, “I just seen my boy gone.” And in another interview, Martinez put into words the lifetime that was stolen from her son:

“He will never graduate high school.”

She continued:

“He will never have a girlfriend.”

And:

“He will never have kids.”

Those are the words that should haunt every politician debating crime policy.

Police arrested 45-year-old William Ferrer less than 24 hours after Jacob was killed. He faces second-degree murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, assault and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

And Ferrer was no stranger to law enforcement.

Law-enforcement sources, said his arrest history stretches back to 1999 and includes allegations involving drug possession, drunken driving, possession of stolen property, menacing and criminal contempt.

That history has inevitably made Jacob’s death part of New York’s bitter argument over repeat offenders, bail, sentencing and whether the criminal justice system is doing enough to keep dangerous people away from innocent New Yorkers.

Republican lawmakers have responded by proposing “Jacob’s Law,” legislation intended to increase punishment when reckless criminal conduct results in a child’s death.

Jacob’s mother wants something even tougher.  Martinez wants anyone who kills a child to face life in prison without parole.

“There should be no second chance when you kill a child.”

That is a mother’s judgment after burying her 12-year-old son.

Trump’s appearance Friday was already focused heavily on law enforcement and his administration’s crime policies. He was also appearing alongside Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate trying to defeat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

But Jacob’s parents weren’t political props in some carefully choreographed moment. Trump was in the middle of speaking when he realized they were there, walked away from the podium and went to them.

His mother says they shared a little “dolphin kiss” before she left for work.

She didn’t know it would be the last one.

Remember Jacob when politicians start talking about crime as though it’s merely another statistic headed in the right direction.

For his family, there is only one statistic that matters.

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

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