The Brooklyn woman arrested three times in the span of five days — getting released twice without bail thanks to new criminal-justice reforms — was ordered held for a psychiatric evaluation on Wednesday following her latest bust.
Tiffany Harris, 30, was kept in custody for the mandatory tests at an unspecified city hospital following a Brooklyn criminal court hearing, on the orders of Judge Joseph Gubbay.
She was back in the criminal justice system after an arrest on New Year’s Eve for a run-in at a court-mandated meeting with a social worker, according to authorities.
Officials previously said that Harris had blown off the meeting, but prosecutors alleged on Wednesday that she had pinched the social worker during the sit-down.
A BJI representative said in court Wednesday that their social worker “did not feel threatened,” while Harris’ lawyer, Jacqueline Caruana insisted that her client is mentally sound, objecting in vain to the testing.
Her lawyer, Jacqueline Caruana, denied that Harris had done anything untoward during the meeting — and insisted that her client is mentally sound, objecting in vain to her hospitalization.
Harris, who wore a black coat and gray sweatpants, nodded her head at points throughout Wednesday’s 30-minute hearing, but let Caruana do the talking.
The latest legal saga for Harris — who has more than a dozen total arrests to her name — began on Dec. 27, when she allegedly slapped three Orthodox women in Crown Heights while saying, “F-U, Jews!”
She was released without bail on Saturday in advance of new, soft-on-crime reform laws, only to be arrested again on Sunday for allegedly punching a woman unprovoked.
Harris — who has pleaded not guilty to both alleged crimes — was again freed on Monday, though she was mandated to meet with the social worker.
“Ms. Harris did not fail to meet any conditions of release, a fact that was confirmed by the supervised released [sic] representative,” said Lisa Schreibersdorf, executive director of Brooklyn Defender Services, which is representing Harris.
“We are gratified that she is not on Rikers Island, where she would face violence, potential solitary confinement and sub-par medical treatment,” said Schreibersdorf. “The new bail laws resulted in a much more humane and likely more effective outcome and that is what they were intended to do.”