The savage beatdown of Alexian Lien by a motorcycle gang that stopped his family’s SUV as he, his wife and his baby were driving along the West Side Highway has just taken a turn out of a Tom Wolfe novel.
Bad enough a gang of bikers can take control of a public highway in New York in broad daylight.
As we soon learned, a number of police officers were riding with them.
Last night, authorities arrested one of them, a 29-year-old undercover cop, on felony charges related to the beating.
When the city learned there was a cop on the scene when Lien was dragged from his car, we all wondered why the officer hadn’t interceded. The initial response was that the officer didn’t want to blow his cover.
But the more we learned, the less the story held up.
First, he didn’t come forward until three days after the attack, when he must have realized police were bound to find out he’d been there. Second, new video, The Post reported Tuesday, allegedly shows this same cop pounding on Lien’s car door, smashing the rear window and kicking the vehicle.
In other words, far from being a mere bystander, he was an active participant.
Some will no doubt use this case to heap more blame on a police force that has already become a piñata for the city’s politically correct.
So far, however, we see no indication the NYPD is to blame here. What we do see is an aggressive motorcycle culture that needs to be taken down, a police officer who needs to be punished and a public that needs reassurance that law enforcement in this city serves the interests of the innocent and law-abiding.
The Post is second to no one when it comes to honoring those entrusted with keeping us safe from criminals.
For the same reason, if it turns out this officer betrayed that trust by taking part in the brutal assault on the Liens, let him bear the severest punishment the law can mete out.