The undercover NYPD detective busted in the brutal biker beatdown of a Manhattan dad in September is free to travel to Poland to visit relatives, a judge ruled Thursday.
Wojciech Braszczok, one of 11 bikers charged with gang assault and other serious felonies, will temporarily get his passport back for the family trip but must surrender it immediately upon his return to the U.S.
“You are obligated to return to the U.S. and surrender your passport,” warned Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Riley.
Braszczok will travel to Poland from May 9 to May 18 to visit his wife’s in-laws, his lawyer said.
Prosecutors argued against temporarily reinstating the cop’s passport because surrendering it was part of his bail conditions and concern over their ability to compel his return should he flee.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass vehemently opposed letting the Polish native return home. “The defendant, according to his passport itself, was born in Poland which makes for a much thornier extradition should the defendant decide to remain in Poland,” Steinglass said.
Wiley ruled Braszczok will be given back his passport no earlier than May 8 and must turn it back in May 20 or else he’ll face bail-jumping charges.
The cop, who is still on active duty with the NYPD, is accused of being part of mob of motorcyclists who yanked Columbia grad Alexian Lien, 33, out of his Range Rover and savagely beat him in front of his wife and infant daughter.
The bloody confrontation was caught on video and went viral on the Internet, garnering international headlines.
The cop was one of 11 people indicted in a Sept. 29 biker attack that left driver Alexian Lien with serious injuries after he struck a rider with his Range Rover containing his wife and young child on the West Side Highway and fled the scene.
His lawyer John Arlia denied Braszczok was ever involved in the beatdown. Braszczok faces up to 25 years in jail if convicted of gang assault.