A Queens man caught a break on Monday when a grand jury indicted him on reduced charges for the vicious beat-down of an off-duty cop — “disappointing” dozens of his fellow officers.
Several dozen police officers flooded a Queens courtroom to hear that Hayden Holder, who is charged in the Nov. 17 beating of Sgt. Mohammed Deen outside a Queens nightclub, is charged with assault rather than first-degree attempted murder. Deen was left unconscious in the brutal attack, part of which was caught on cell phone video.
“We are very disappointed the charges were reduced,” said Paul Capotosto, a representative from the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association outside of court.
Had Holder been indicted on the first-degree attempted murder of an officer charge, he would have faced 25 years to life in prison, instead of the up to 25 years he now faces.
Holder and Deen got into an argument outside of a nightclub and the fight soon spilled onto Liberty Avenue.
The cell phone video shows Holder strike Deen once in the face which knocked him to the ground. As he lay defenseless, Holder continued to kick and punch him, according to the video and law enforcement.
“The defendant admitted everything in the grand jury up until the attack,” said prosecutor Mark Misorek.
“He claimed Sgt. Deen attacked him and has short-term memory loss,” said Misorek.
Holder’s attorney, Brian O’Connor entered a “not guilty” plea on his client’s behalf and attempted to have the judge issue a bail amount.
“At the arraignment, Deen was likely to die and now he is doing a lot better,” said O’Connor who added, “This is a one-time incident. He wasn’t looking for trouble that night, trouble came for him.”
The judge denied the bail request and ordered Holder back to court on May 8.