NEW YORK - A motorcyclist accused of triggering a bloody confrontation between bikers and an SUV driver in New York City on Sept. 29 has been arraigned on gang assault charges. But his lawyer said the motorcyclist’s role has been unfairly overstated.
Reginald Chance, 37, of Brooklyn was being held Sunday in lieu of a $75,000 bond.
Police say the bikers dragged the man from his vehicle after he ran over one of them while fleeing an earlier confrontation.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Samantha Turino said Chance didn’t participate in the beating but set it in motion by breaking the motorist’s window.
Defense attorney Gregory Watts acknowledged Chance broke the window but said Chance then left the scene. Watts said it’s wrong to charge Chance with participating in a gang assault and he will “hotly contest” those charges.
Another motorcycle rider, Robert Sims, 35, of Brooklyn, was previously arraigned on charges including gang assault.
Two other people have faced formal charges in connection with the attack, though the case against one of those motorcyclists was dismissed when prosecutors said they needed more time to investigate.
Earlier Sunday, the man who intervened to protect the SUV’s driver said he “felt intense danger” as he sheltered the assaulted man.
Sergio Consuegra told reporters that he wishes he could have done more. He had been on his way to church when he saw an SUV stop on 178th Street in Manhattan and a group of motorcyclists approach.
“I made a simple step that day, a simple gesture. … I must say today, to send a message to all that whenever they see a family in crisis, no matter the circumstances, when they cry for help, be there for them,” he said at the scene of the attack, where he was accompanied by elected officials.
Police have said the bikers stopped the SUV on a highway, attacked the vehicle and then pulled the driver from his car after a chase. The driver, Alexian Lien, needed stitches after being beaten by the bikers. The motorcyclist who was crushed by the SUV, Edwin Mieses Jr. of Lawrence, Mass., suffered a broken spine and two broken legs and may never walk again, his family has said.
Consuegra said the riders started hitting the car and that one of them tried to grab Lien’s wife, who was in the car with their child.
“She was kind of making some sounds,” he said. “I saw a baby inside; she had the baby in her arms, I guess she was protecting the baby from all the glass that was flying inside and outside.”
He said bystanders started screaming for the woman and baby to be left alone, and the biker let go.
Lien was on the ground when Consuegra stepped in between him and the bikers.
“There was more coming, and they feel like they wanted to keep hurting the man - and I felt intense danger at that moment, at that time, and I say to myself, ‘Let me not show these people that I’m here to engage in any kind of confrontation but that I’m here to protect the man and the family, so I’m going to keep it cool.’ That’s what I was thinking,” Consuegra said.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 10/07/2013