Three weeks after a Serbian college student fled to his native country to avoid charges in New York for allegedly beating a Brooklyn man within an inch of his life, the US Embassy in Belgrade today formally demanded his arrest and extradition.
Fugitive basketball player Miladin Kovacevic, 20, must be handcuffed and returned to New York to face justice, US Ambassador Cameron Munter said today.
Kovacevic, a hulking former center for Binghamton University, is accused of viciously beating Bryan Steinhauer, during a brawl at a popular off-campus watering hole on May 4.
He is believed to be hiding in Serbia.
The player, whose parents come from a prominent family in Belgrade, made bail with the help of the Serbian Consulate in New York on May 6 and provided with an emergency travel document to return home on May 9. His passport had been confiscated by Broome County authorities in Binghamton.
For the past week, the Serbian Foreign Ministry maintained that it’s national law forbids extradition of its citizens, although the US State Department maintains an old treaty allows the return of a fugitive.
Kovacevic, a giant at 6-feet-9-inches and 260-pounds, is accused of beating and repeatedly kicking puny 135-pound Steinhauer after the smaller man may have grabbed the backside of a woman who was dating the ball player’s friend.
Steinhauer, 22, remains in intensive care and has only awoken sporadically to communicate through blinking “yes” or “no,” according to a family sources.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), a family friend of the Steinhauers, took up his cause after he learned that Kovacevic absconded.
Since then, the deputy diplomat who helped Kovacevic escape has been recalled to Serbia and faces disciplinary action.
Serbian Consul General Slobodan Neadovic has told The Post that he will resign over the incident.