Roland Codrington: NYC man arrested over slashing spree in Harlem park that killed pediatrician aged 60
THE BRONX, NEW YORK CITY: A career criminal has been taken under custody over a slashing spree that killed two people including a Manhattan pediatrician whose throat was slit at a Harlem park, the NYPD officials stated on Monday, December 26.
Roland Codrington, 35, was driving slain pediatrician Bruce Maurice Henry's black Mercedes Benz when he was arrested on Christmas eve. The throat-slit doctor's body was found at Marcus Garvey Park on Friday, December 23.
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Codrington has also been accused of stabbing two patrons at an Upper East Side bar and killing a 51-year-old man on the Lower East Side, according to cops. In an official statement, John Chell, the NYPD Chief told “Three sharp-eyed officers with the 30th Precinct made the apprehension. It was just a great plan on Christmas Eve when everyone was out shopping, we were still working. Thank God we put this to bed.”
According to the New York Post, the violent mowing spree reportedly began with the killing of James Cunningham on December 19, who was found dead at around 1.00 am on East Village street. The deceased was dropped at a nearby bar, from where the killer left after drinking a seltzer. The cops said that they were informed by a bartender at the watering hole that a victim was found with a 10-inch gash to his neck at Avenue A near East 13th Street, where he was lying in a pool of blood.
Before the day of the tragic throat-slit incident, the Spuyten-Duyvil resident and pediatrician Bruce Maurice Henry was last seen leaving his building. In a press briefing on Monday, December 26, Keechant Sewell, NYPD Commissioner said “Without any video in the park detectives in the NYPD got to work. After canvassing the scene and combing through countless leads, your detectives were able to link this murder with another murder in the 9th Precinct of a 51-year-old male and a separate assault which ultimately resulted in the arrest of Roland Codrington after a department-wide collaboration of intelligence, resources, and skill.”
In the briefing, James Essig, NYPD Chief of Detectives said on December 26 that “Our male was just walking out of the establishment. There are no prior interactions. They bump into each other. They have a 20-second, caught-on-camera dispute. And our perpetrator just takes out a knife and slashes across the neck and then leaves.”
Cops further stated that on December 22, a bartender at Teddy's Bar on Second Avenue was allegedly assaulted by the killer, and two patrons who came to help the victim were also stabbed.
Codrington was pulled over when he was found driving Henry's stolen car and was arrested after he was spotted at Jerome Avenue and 166th Street in the Bronx, Essig said and the investigators were finally able to find the common link between the incidents. Essig said that “we’re looking at all unprovoked stabbings throughout the city to see if he’s done anything else.”
The criminal has several other charges lodged. The chief told that “he has 12 prior arrests, including some vehicle-related arrests from 2022, assault with a weapon and [in] 2017 two assaults with a weapon, 2013, criminal possession of a knife, 2012 two times for assault, in … 2006 a knife robbery and a knife assault,” and “he is now being charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of assault in the second degree and one count of criminal mischief.”
As per the New York Post report, Codrington "had as many as 20 prior busts", with some of the cases sealed and "the most recent a January 20 arrest for an altered VIN number on a motorcycle." He has also been allegedly charged with gun possession and third-degree assaults.
Cops have not yet revealed Cordington's intention behind the killings. According to the New York Post, a high-ranking source said “All his arrests are knife-related. He has a bad temper, I guess.”