Migrant who flipped the bird to reporters following Times Square beatdown arrest ‘exonerated’ after investigation: DA
A 22-year-old migrant accused of taking part in the infamous mob attack on two police officers in Times Square was misidentified and has been “exonerated,” prosecutors said Friday.
The Manhattan DA’s office is dropping its case against Jhoan Boada, who was initially charged with assault over the Jan. 27 brawl that led to the arrests of seven other migrants.
“After a thorough and diligent investigation, Jhoan Boada has been exonerated as a participant in this assault,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement.
Instead, the DA’s office said they identified and charged the suspect originally believed to be Boada.
“Our investigation has revealed that Marcelino Estee, not Jhoan Boada, is the individual described in this complaint, wearing the black & white jacket with pink shoes, committing this assault,” the DA’s office said.
“Marcelino Estee has been charged for his participation. We are therefore moving to dismiss this complaint against Jhoan Boada.”
Estee, a Venezuelan migrant, appeared in court Friday and was arraigned on an assault charge. He was held on $15,000 cash bail.
Boada’s lawyers had emphatically denied his involvement in the melee, which erupted when one of officer’s tried to detain a migrant who failed to move along on West 42nd Street.
Surveillance footage shows the officer grabbing the man, and leading him towards a building before all hell broke loose when the migrant tried to get away.
Shocking video showed the group of men wailing on the cops, delivering kicks and punches to the head and body of the pair of New York’s Finest.
Investigators alleged Boada was the man wearing a black and white jacket and pink shoes — who can be seen on video repeatedly kicking the cops as they wrestled on the sidewalk.
He was arrested two days after the attack, but sprung without bail the following day — and flipped news cameras the bird as he left court.
“[Boada] says if you watch the videotape you will not see him on there,” defense attorney Javier Damien told the judge at Boada’s arraignment.
“He wasn’t involved in the situation at all.”
Estee was fingered as a suspect after prosecutors tracked down his social media accounts – which showed him wearing the identifiable jacket and sneakers, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Zachary Kotin.
He was arrested Thursday in Midtown after cops recognized him from a wanted flyer, but Estee initially denied his involvement.
“However, after being presented with the video, surveillance footage, and still images from the footage, the defendant admitted that he is the individual dressed as described above, and that he kicked the officers multiple times during the course of the assault,” Kotin said in court Friday.
Estee’s defense attorney questioned the evidence used to charge his client.
The lawyer said police “rushed and arrested the wrong person… and then now saying that it’s my client based on an alleged statement that he made while he’s in custody.”
“That alleged statement is the only evidence that’s contained in the complaint tying my client to this incident,” he added.
Seven other migrants — Yohenry Brito, 24, Yorman Reveron, 24, Ulises Bohorquez, 21, Wilson Juarez, 21, Kelvin Servat Arocha, 19, Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19 and Yarwuin Madris, 17 — were charged in connection to the attack.
The brutal beatdown caused uproar across the city.
“You want to know why our cops are getting assaulted? There are no consequences,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said last month. “Eight people attacked two cops. Cowards.”
The case has also prompted calls for deportation, including from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who told reporters, “Get them all and send them back.”
“You don’t touch our police officers. You don’t touch anyone,” she said.
