Saying the victim’s wounds have not healed as well as expected, Manhattan prosecutors told a judge Thursday they will not downgrade the top charge against an undercover NYPD detective who allegedly participated in the vicious biker gang attack on a Columbia grad in front of his terrified wife and daughter.
“On our last date I indicated we likely would be reducing the charges pending the results of another medical examination,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said about the charges against Detective Wojciech Braszczok.
“Unfortunately, it appears the victim’s injuries have not healed as well as we initially believed they would, so we’re not [going] to reduce the charges at this time.”
Victim Alexian Lien, 33, needed stitches on his face and head after he was yanked from his Range Rover and savagely beaten in front of his wife and infant daughter on West 178th St. on Sept. 29.
Braszczok, 32, who was off duty during the melee, is accused of punching the car’s rear window.
The incident erupted after Lien’s SUV bumped into a biker’s ride near 125th Street in Harlem.
A confrontation ensued and some of the bikers allegedly slashed the SUV’s tires. Lien peeled away, running over several bikers, one of whom was critically injured.
A mob of enraged bikers then chased Lien 50 blocks uptown before forcing him off the West Side Highway.
The furious gang pulled Lien from the SUV and beat him to a pulp in front his horrified family.
The bloody confrontation was caught on video and went viral on the Internet.
Braszczok and nine co-defendants face up to 25 years on the top charge of first-degree gang assault.
If prosecutors had downgraded the charge to attempted gang assault, the bikers would have faced a maximum of 15 years.
A total of 11 bikers have been charged in the brutal beating.
The undercover, who infiltrated Occupy Wall Street protests, was previously offered three years in prison if he pleads guilty.
Justice Maxwell Wiley issued an order of protection barring Braszczok from having any contact with the victim. The disgraced cop is due back in court April 4.
Braszczok and his defense lawyer John Arlia declined to comment as they left Manhattan Supreme Court. Braszczok’s face was hidden from photographers and TV cameras with a scarf and hood.
Lien, who couldn’t be reached for comment, plans to sue the city and two of his alleged attackers, Braszczok and NYPD cop Matthew Rodriguez, according to a notice of claim filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.