Chrissy Payne, 47, was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail during a chaotic Sunday arraignment where she repeatedly interrupted the judge and tried to justify her past violence.
The Brooklyn woman faces attempted-kidnapping and endangerment charges for trying to abduct a 4-year-old boy outside a Crown Heights McDonald’s on Sept. 14, plus felony hate-crime assault counts for punching a woman on a city bus in August, prosecutors said. Assistant District Attorney Che Aroyewun told the court that Payne approached the child while he sat on a bench with his 66-year-old grandmother, saying “in sum and substance, ‘Come with Mama, that’s my son,'” before grabbing the boy’s arm and pulling him.
The boy’s mother, off-duty NYPD officer Anyia James Roberts, who is seven months pregnant, intervened and grabbed her son, causing Payne to flee the scene near the fast-food restaurant. Authorities arrested Payne five days later and linked her to the pending bus assault case from Aug. 19.
“It is alleged that on Aug. 19th the defendant said to the complaining witness, ‘I don’t want to sit next to no white B-word,’ then hit the complaining witness in the face with a closed fist,” Aroyewun said in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Payne did not go quietly during the proceedings before Judge Emily Ruben. She tried several times to interrupt the arraignment and at one point attempted to defend her conduct in the August bus attack.
“Number one, I only had a court date. I didn’t have no convictions,” she told the judge. “Second, of all, I didn’t just hit somebody. She did something to me, too.”
Records show Payne has four other open cases dating to April, including charges for petty larceny, assault and an earlier hate crime assault in July. Her lawyer argued that the $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond ordered by Ruben was effectively the same as being remanded, given Payne’s financial situation.
The Sept. 14 incident unfolded in broad daylight in Crown Heights, where the toddler was sitting with his grandmother on a bench outside the McDonald’s. Payne’s approach and attempt to claim the child as her own triggered a swift maternal response from Roberts, who despite her advanced pregnancy managed to protect her son and force Payne to retreat.
The August bus attack that generated the hate-crime charge occurred weeks before the attempted kidnapping, with Payne allegedly targeting a fellow passenger with racial slurs before striking her. That case was still pending when Payne was arrested for the McDonald’s incident, adding to an already substantial criminal docket that has accumulated since spring.
Payne’s court outbursts Sunday underscored the volatility that prosecutors and her own attorney are navigating as she faces multiple serious charges across several open cases. The attempted-kidnapping charge alone carries significant potential prison time, while the hate-crime designation on the bus assault elevates that case to felony status.
Judge Ruben’s bail decision came after prosecutors outlined the pattern of alleged violence and the risk they said Payne poses to the community. The defendant’s financial constraints mean she will likely remain in custody as the cases proceed through Brooklyn Criminal Court.