'Stop-and-frisk' kid freed by court shot a man months after release

NYPD officers conduct a demonstration on stop-and-frisk, a technique officers use to keep illegal guns off the street. One teen arrested after being frisked was later released -- and months later, he was busted for shooting a Queens man, sources said.

This is justice?

The teen thug who beat a gun rap because an appeals court said he was unfairly stopped and frisked had no trouble getting another gun three months later - and he used it to allegedly pump two bullets into a young dad he was trying to kill, The Post has learned.

The court's sympathy toward Darryl Craig, 14 — who was just starting his criminal career with his first gun arrest — infuriated NYPD cops, who rely on stop-and-frisk as a key tool for keeping illegal guns off the street.

“The ability of a police officer to stop, question and frisk an individual is a highly effective tactic when left to the discretion of a police officer,” said Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

Craig, 14, had the original gun-possession conviction overturned, even though he had been stopped in a high-crime area in the wake of two gang shootings and the cops had employed textbook NYPD procedure.

Craig’s run-in with cops came in February 2010, when Bronx Police Officer Orlando Colon stopped him on the street after seeing him put a black object in his pocket.

Colon found a handgun during a pat-down, and Craig was arrested for weapons possession and sentenced to 18 months’ probation — a conviction the appeals court threw out Tuesday after deciding that the cop had no legal grounds for the search.

Craig moved into his dad’s Queens home while serving probation — and it didn’t take long for him to get in more gun trouble.

On May 15, 2010, Craig and a pal confronted a gang rival outside a nearby Rosedale home, sources said.

The friend handed Craig a loaded pistol and he immediately opened fire on the victim, Calvin Williams, 26.

After taking a shot to the wrist, Williams tried to run, but Craig fired again, putting him on the ground with a shot to the leg, the sources said.

Craig then walked up to Williams for the kill shot, but was scared off when the man’s kids began screaming and his brother came to the door.

Craig was arrested three days later and charged with attempted murder.

The Queens DA’s Office lost its bid to try Craig as an adult — and the case was sealed.

“We did have a case with him out here, but he was granted youthful-offender status over our objections,” a DA spokesman said.

The city Law Department plans to appeal the ruling in The Bronx stop-and-frisk case.

NY POST