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At least three off-duty police officers say they were part of a motorcycle group that was involved in a violent assault of an SUV driver last weekend in New York City.
One of them, a detective who works undercover, even saw the attack. But apparently fearful of revealing his identity, he did not intervene. The undercover detective waited several days before coming forward. It's unclear if the other two off-duty officers also witnessed the beating.
They will all be stripped of their guns and badges and have been placed on desk duty, pending an investigation.
Sorting through the officers' stories is the next step in this investigation, Miller added. "We know of one (officer) who was there at the initial beating, but these other officers, one of the ones that's come forward says after the guy got run over by the SUV, 'I wasn't there for the rest of it.' ... Here's the problem they're going to face, which is whatever they did or didn't do that day is one issue, but not coming forward right away actually could rise to official misconduct for hindering an investigation once they were aware of it and that's a potential criminal charge."
The officers, Miller said, are going to be placed on modified assignments after their stories are weighed. "They could be suspended. This could be grounds for dismissal, especially if the -- this is the D.A.'s call. If the district attorney looks at their conduct and says that rises to official misconduct, 'Everybody knew this investigation was going forward, we needed this information and these guys didn't step forward as law enforcement officers' -- that could be violation of law."
Police arrested two of the alleged assailants over the weekend, and more arrests could be on the way. Police say the man seen pulling the Range Rover's door open is 35-year-old Robert Sims, of Brooklyn. And they say the man who later slammed his helmet against the driver's side window is Reginald Chance, 37, also from Brooklyn. Chance, CBS News has learned, already has 21 prior arrests on his record, including robbery and drug charges.
Chance's lawyer Gregory Watts says his client overreacted and broke the window, but denied taking part in the beating. He said, "If you look at the video, you will see my client immediately after smashing the window, returning to his bicycle. And there are still photographs in the possession of the district attorney that will show you that he's not physically present."
Both Chance and Sims have been charged with gang assault and other felonies. Sims, according to court documents, stomped on the head and body of the SUV driver, Alexian Lien.
An unknown attacker tried to yank his wife and 2-year-old daughter out of the vehicle.
Witness Sergio Consuegra said, "I heard a lot of people screaming, telling the man -- 'No not the woman! There's a child! There's a child! Not with the child!'"
Consuegra said he was shocked to hear police officers were on the scene and did nothing. He called the situation "like unbelievable." He added, "It made me angry, it made me sad, yeah, that knowing that it could have been avoided."
This weekend, police released pictures of two more persons of interest. They also continue to scour the video for clues about the other assailants.
As for the motorcyclist who took the video, Kevin Bresloff -- his attorney says he is cooperating with police and is not considered a suspect.
rickymouse
I know ex-cops who ride with a group of friends, some of whom are cops. If they see an injustice they will respond in a way that they believe is right. The guy in the SUV should have slowed to avoid the accident in this case and his actions after the accident were not justifiable. You don't run over someone helping someone else even if you are scared.
I don't blame the police officers for not doing anything. The excessive beating of the driver of the SUV was uncalled for though. People judge people inappropriately all the time, I do not think that these bikers would have done this if the situation was different, after all, some of their companions were cops and they were jeopardising the group's integrity. I know my friends who were cops would have yanked that guy out of the car if he was trying to escape, using appropriate force to stop him from fleeing. That is not bad. The cops riding with this group should have taken charge and stopped the beating but allowed them to use appropriate force to detain the driver of the suv. Things just got out of hand. You can't control people easily when they get pissed off a lot of time.
So there was fault on both sides, I will let the judicial system work this out. I just comment to show I understand both sides. The SUV driver was scared, but his fear made things so much worse.
luciddream
Once you join the force, you can commit whatever crime, and be persecuted AND still get away with it(with pay).
Wrabbit2000
I think it depends entirely on what the undercover was doing, to think about it. If that was a modern day Donnie Brasco in terms of what he was involved with for not wanting to blow who he was so publicly, then I could well understand the greater good thing going here.
I'd ask even him though, how this ever went that far? Surely even the undercover with something big to lose, could have broken off from the group before the assault began and phoned a 911? That wouldn't have blown anything...right? The others don't sound like they had even that (admittedly weak) excuse for not being cops vs. members of a street mob.
Employment standards a bit..ahem..low at the NYPD? I get that there are almost 35,000 of them ...but the bad apple analogy is getting pretty thin here. It's several whole trees by the look of things....turning to the whole orchard! Headlines are getting wayy too common with this sort of thing.
butcherguy
Wrabbit2000
I think it depends entirely on what the undercover was doing, to think about it. If that was a modern day Donnie Brasco in terms of what he was involved with for not wanting to blow who he was so publicly, then I could well understand the greater good thing going here.
I'd ask even him though, how this ever went that far? Surely even the undercover with something big to lose, could have broken off from the group before the assault began and phoned a 911? That wouldn't have blown anything...right? The others don't sound like they had even that (admittedly weak) excuse for not being cops vs. members of a street mob.
Employment standards a bit..ahem..low at the NYPD? I get that there are almost 35,000 of them ...but the bad apple analogy is getting pretty thin here. It's several whole trees by the look of things....turning to the whole orchard! Headlines are getting wayy too common with this sort of thing.
I have tried to tell people that most of them are bad. I know this from experience from the 'right' side of the law, in multiple municipalities.
They aren't all bad, but it is difficult to find good ones. Once you get to know them personally, you see that they have a different mindset and a totally different set of values and it isn't a good set of values.