Internal Affairs cop part of biker ride that ended in beating

A cop from the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau was part of the massive biker ride that ended with a Manhattan dad getting chased up the West Side Highway and brutally beaten on a city street, sources told The Post.

The officer is not assigned to the case, which has led to the arrest of an undercover cop on gang assault charges — and there is no evidence that he joined in or even witnessed criminal behavior.

But he did wait several days before coming forward to ‘fess up to being among the 300 motorcycles that roared through Manhattan on Sept. 29, sources said.

The cop is the third NYPD officer found to be on the ride. The others are Det. Samir Gonzales, who was also not suspected of joining in the mayhem, and disgraced Occupy Wall Street undercover Wojciech Braszczok, who was charged Wednesday with felony gang assault.

Braszczok, 32, of Queens, will testify on his own behalf before a Manhattan grand jury Friday, according to his lawyer, John Arlia.

Braszczok is accused of punching out the rear window of the Range Rover as Manhattan Internet exec Alexian Lien, 33, was yanked out onto the highway by other bikers and his wife and 2-year-old daughter cowered inside.

His neighbors in Long Island City called him a party animal.

“When I went to the roof there was the smell of pot, very strong,” a resident in Braszczok’s building said of the aftermath of a loud, rooftop party the cop threw a few months ago.

“How can a cop be here and not stop it?” the resident said, declining to give his name. “You’d think he was on the other side.”

Meanwhile, the seventh biker to be busted in the melee was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday.

James Shawn Kuehne, 31, of Brooklyn, is charged with gang assault, assault and criminal mischief for allegedly repeatedly bashing the prone and cringing Lien with his black biker helmet.

“The defendant was part of a large group of motorcyclists riding on the West Side Highway,” Assistant District Attorney Samantha Turino said in court.

“This defendant is on video having struck the driver of the SUV with his helmet at leaast three times while he’s on the ground, while other separately charged defendants terrorized his wife and baby who were still in the car,” the prosecutor said.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Abraham Clott set bail at $ 200,000 bond.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Jamie Schram, Gillian Kleiman and Rebecca Rosenberg

Yahoo Local News – New York Post

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