The Manhattan DA’s office won’t press charges against one of the motorcycle thugs who allegedly terrorized and beat a man after a wild chase on the West Side Highway, and is reluctant to prosecute another, sources said Wednesday.
Allen Edwards, 43, of Queens, who allegedly smashed in Alexian Lien’s rear driver’s side window with his fist, surrendered to cops Tuesday morning but will not be charged, the sources said.
“The DA declined to prosecute. Look at [The Post’s] front page [Tuesday]. He’s there on the motorcycle right next to [Lien] after he got his ass kicked,” an angry law enforcement source said.
Video shows Edwards pummeling the rear window of Lien’s Range Rover, near where his toddler daughter was belted into a child seat, and Lien on the ground with Edwards next to him.
Another source said prosecutors were reluctant to charge a second biker, Christopher Cruz, 28, of Passaic, N.J., who brake-checked the SUV so the bikes could take over the road.
But they relented because of pressure from the NYPD and widespread publicity about the case, and Cruz was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and reckless driving.
“The case is weak. It was too early to tell if he committed the crimes he was charged with. It needed much more investigation,” the second source said.
Manhattan DA Cy Vance’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the case.
Police, meanwhile, are zeroing in on two other suspects, including the one who slashed Lien, sending him to the hospital for stitches.
“They’re trying to ID two of the guys. One of them is the main guy. He’s the one that assaulted the victim. On the video, he was wearing the chrome helmet that has a logo of a bird,” a third source said.
“We have recovered a lot of video — new video — from bikers who videotaped the ride. One video shows the guy in the chrome helmet ripping the victim out of the SUV. The video then cuts off. [But] we also have a witness who filled in the gaps on what happened next.”
The witness, the source said, shows the biker in the chrome helmet throwing the terrified dad to the ground and stomping on his head.
The second suspect being sought also smashed windows on the SUV, the source added. “He’s wearing orange and he hit the window of the SUV.”
Cops have gotten photos of hundreds of license plates from bridge and tunnel cameras and are trying to identify more of the bikers, who first swarmed Lien, his wife and child on the West Side Highway in Harlem Sunday about 1:30 p.m.
But many of the plates are stolen or belong on different bikes, making it tougher to ID the motorcyclists
The chase was caught on video by a helmet camera worn by one of the bikers — who later posted it on YouTube.
Early on in the chase, as Lien sped off to escape the pack, he ran over 26-year-old biker Jeremiah Mieses of Lawrence, Mass., whose spine was crushed
The gang eventually caught the fleeing Lien in Washington Heights, where he was dragged out of his car and beaten in front of his family.
Yahoo Local News – New York Post
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=14910
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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