Stealing a cop’s cap was just “youthful exuberance,” a lawyer said today of the 20-year-old Occupy Wall Street protester whose face was photographed covered in blood after his arrest last week.
Brandon Watts remains charged with felony grand larceny for the post-Zuccotti Park eviction confrontation, in which he also allegedly threw a pen and an AA battery — each time missing — at cops at 1 Liberty Plaza.
He was in court today for the cap-heist — learning that prosecutors have yet to put the case before a grand jury — and for two previous protest arrests charging him with a violation for allegedly wearing a mask and a misdemeanor for allegedly stealing orange netting.
“It’s youthful exuberance,” lawyer Martin Stolar said of the cap, which Watts allegedly tossed into the crowd. “The gentleman has some psychological issues,” Stolar added. “He is not the face of Occupy Wall Street.”