One of the three teens charged with felonies in the Times Square Easter wilding spree caught a break yesterday when a grand jury reduced his rap to a misdemeanor — and he was released on time served.
Leroy-Jama Wigfall, 19, of Brooklyn, was sprung by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman after pleading guilty to the top charge against him — that he tried to wriggle free as an arresting officer cuffed him at the corner of Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street at midnight on Easter.
He’d spent 21 days in jail. The judge rejected prosecutor arguments that he should stay in jail for nine months — the maximum allowed for resisting arrest — given his criminal record, which includes disorderly conduct, larceny and misdemeanor assault.
Wigfall had originally been charged with felony assault for allegedly spraining one officer’s wrist and giving a second cop a concussion during his arrest. But an investigation revealed that while Wigfall did resist arrest, it was another teen, Jermaine Parker, 19, of Brooklyn, who injured the two officers, prosecutors said.
“Early in our investigation, it became clear that Jermaine Parker, not Leroy-Jama Wigfall, injured the two police officers,” said Erin Duggan, spokeswoman for Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr., who has vowed to be tough on the Easter wilding culprits.
“Defendant Wigfall pled guilty to the highest count charged, without any plea bargain or reduced charge,” she noted.
Parker pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and possession of a gravity knife, and remains free on $3,000 bail, despite prosecutors’ efforts to hike the amount to at least $10,000 based on yesterday’s indictment.
“I got maced, and stuff came out of my nose,” Wigfall told cops when busted, according to police statements released yesterday. “I came into the city with my associates,” Parker told cops, according to his own police statements.
“The officer was moving the barricade and I just went around the other way and then they tackled me,” he complained. “I just wanted to go further down the street. I didn’t resist them or try to fight with them.”
A third teen, Rayvon Guice, has been charged with a felony in the wilding incident — for allegedly firing a gun into the crowd, grazing two women. He has pleaded not guilty, is being held in lieu of $100,000 cash bail, and is due back in court on June 23.