Third biker in viral N.Y. SUV attack arraigned for ‘gang assault’

A third motorcyclist was arraigned Sunday in connection with the assault of an SUV driver who was chased down and beaten in front of his wife and 2-year-old child in Manhattan last week.

Reginald Chance, 37, who is suspected of using his helmet to bash in the driver’s window, appeared at an arraignment in a New York City court Sunday. He stands charged with several felonies, including gang assault in the first degree and assault. (Gang assault, under New York law, means causing serious injuries with the help of two or more people.)

Chance had turned himself in to police Friday.

A video of the chase and the beating went viral. The incident has stirred passions on behalf of the driver, Alexian Lien, 33, as well as motorcyclist Edwin Mieses Jr., who may now be paralyzed after police say Lien ran over him.

New York police, too, have opened an internal investigation after reports that at least one New York Police Department officer was with the motorcyclists, possibly working undercover, according to NBC News.

The motorcyclist who recorded the video of the incident and uploaded it to YouTube, Kevin Bresloff, has since received death threats, his attorney told NBC’s New York affiliate; Bresloff was reportedly cooperating with the investigation.

The Sept. 29 confrontation happened after the motorcyclists had attended a rally. Christopher Cruz, 28, of Passaic, N.J., cut in front of the SUV and slowed down; the SUV bumped him. Then the other bikers slowed down and blocked the SUV.

That’s when Lien, apparently frightened, burst forward and ran over one of the riders, officials said, leading to a chase that ended with the bikers pulling Lien from the SUV and beating him.

The man credited with helping stop the attack, bystander Sergio Consuegra, told reporters on Sunday, “I say to them, ‘That’s it, guys. Let it go, man. Let it go. That’s it. Just go, man. That’s it.’ So we stood at each other, looking at each other’s faces, and somehow, they stopped right in front of me.”

Cruz was later charged with misdemeanor second-degree unlawful imprisonment and reckless driving. A second motorcylist, Robert Sims, 35, was charged with first-degree assault, gang assault and weapons possession.

Lien has not been charged. The incident was reportedly under investigation by a grand jury.

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