Bikers rally at Manhattan hospital after SUV dispute

NBC New York - About 100 bikers rallied near a Manhattan hospital Wednesday where a man was hospitalized after he was run over by an SUV on the West Side Highway, setting off a chase and the driver's beating.

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

NBC New York – About 100 bikers rallied near a Manhattan hospital Wednesday where a man was hospitalized after he was run over by an SUV on the West Side Highway, setting off a chase and the driver’s beating.

Police barricades went up near the hospital as authorities braced for the organized ride. Edwin Mieses Jr. is recovering after suffering broken legs and spinal injuries after he and a group of fellow riders swarmed the Range Rover on the West Side Highway, his family has said.

The Mieses family hired celebrity attorney Gloria Allred to represent him in a potential case against Alexian Lien, the driver who hit him.

On Thursday, Lien’s family released a statement through their attorney that offered sympathies to the injured motorcyclist but said Lien was in a “life-threatening” situation and had to take action as he did in order to protect his wife and 2-year-old daughter, who were also in the car at the time.

“We know in our hearts that we could not have done anything differently, and we believe that anyone faced with this sort of grave danger would have taken the same course of action in order to protect their family,” the Lien family said.

The bikers that traveled to St. Luke’s Hospital to rally for the injured cyclist Wednesday would not say whether they were part of the group that traveled on the highway, but defended themselves against the perception that motoryclists were menacing.

“We’re not savages, we’re not animals,” said one rider. “We’re just average people that love to ride.”

Another motorcylist said “no one is getting justice for this gentleman in the hospital.”

Detectives on Wednesday searched the Long Island home of the biker they believe recorded a video of the chase and beating that has since gone viral. Equipment recovered at the home is now being analyzed, law enforcement officials said.

Two bikers had been arrested since the ride on Sunday, but one has been released.

Allen Edwards, 42, of Queens — believed to be the man seen on video striking the Range Rover’s rear driver’s side window with his fists, surrendered to police on Tuesday. But the Manhattan DA declined to prosecute, “pending further investigation of the entire incident,” the office said Wednesday.

Sources said he has been cooperative and there is no indication he participated in the assault of Lien. He may have even tried to come to the victim’s aid, sources said.

The other arrested biker, Christopher Cruz, of Passaic, N.J., was charged with second-degree unlawful imprisonment and reckless driving. Cruz, who was uninjured, was arraigned Wednesday. Prosecutors say he deliberately slowed down in front of the Range Rover on the West Side Highway, trapping him there, but Cruz’s lawyer said that was not true.

Meanwhile, the wife of the hospitalized biker said her husband is the real victim in the altercation.

“There’s no hope for his back,” Dayana Mieses told reporters. “They crushed his spine. They broke it in two different places, so he will be forever, forever paralyzed.”

The dispute set off when the group, in town for an unauthorized motorcycle rally, slowed down in front of the Range Rover.

The video then shows a large group of bikers clustering around the Range Rover heading north. One of the bikers then moves into the SUV’s lane and rides briefly alongside it, peering in through the driver’s side window. It’s unclear from the video what the driver might have done to anger the motorcyclist.

The biker then cuts in front of the Range Rover and, still staring at the driver, suddenly slows down. It isn’t captured on the video, but the motorcycle and SUV bumped, police said.

Click here to read more.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE