The teenager’s family told Eyewitness News reporter Jim Dolan that he was not there at the time of the incident and did not participate.
Police arrested and charged a 17-year-old man on Friday for the crimes, which damaged a BMW and a taxi and left its occupants shaken.
The incident was reported on Tuesday, shortly after 4 pm, at the intersection of East 21st Street and Fifth Avenue, and on Thursday, a group of teenagers surrounded and broke two cars.
One of the teenagers allegedly kicked the BMW SUV when a large group surrounded him.
The parents of the previously accused teenager said he had an alibi and that he was at Queens Center Mall buying a gift for his brother at the time of the incident.
Her brother and father showed a receipt for the time of the incident, as well as what they said were images from their cell phone tracking applications.
“It is absolutely unacceptable,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “You have these teenagers doing something that is just wrong, period. At least one has been arrested, the others will be. Look, we have to teach our young people better all the time. It is the responsibility of all of us. But we also have to have consequences So there will be consequences in this case. I don’t want to see anything like this happen again in New York. “
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Police are looking for up to four teenagers who were clearly caught on video throwing a bicycle on the hood of the car, jumping on the windshield and punching the rear window nine times.
Detectives are working on possible identifications for at least two of these suspects, and more arrests are expected.
They estimate that up to 25 cyclists were part of the group around the BMW, before a yellow taxi on East 29th Street and Fifth Avenue.
Lawyer Teny Geragos shot the video and said she witnessed many others doing the same.
“Suddenly, I heard screaming and banging,” she said. “I ran from the conference table to the window to see what the commotion was. I saw dozens and dozens of cyclists, crashing, taking turns, crashing the bicycles on the taxi driver, on the driver’s taxi.”
She is pleading with anyone who has a video of these incidents to hand them over to the police.
“There were many, many of them, and they took turns hitting the back of his window,” she said. “Then they completely swept the mirrors out of his car, and then a biker even hit him.”
She said she was shocked.
“I was horrified to see this now and to know that it happened to other people,” she said. “It was terrifying. It was almost unbelievable, because it was unlike anything I had ever witnessed in the city. I was really praying that everything was fine.
The 36-year-old BMW driver, “Max Torgovnic, was with his mother as the scene unfolded. He said he still can’t get over the shock that happened on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight – and he feared for his life and your mother’s.
“And I noticed this swarm of cyclists, tall and young children, getting in and out of traffic and sort of surrounding the car,” he said. “We got to the point where they were in front of me and one on either side and behind me, and I’m probably going at about seven or eight miles an hour.”
Torgovnic said the children were holding the door handles. He said his first instinct was to slow down, stop and let them pass.
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He said he didn’t see it, but a witness said someone was behind the vehicle on a bicycle going around. And when he slowed down, the biker apparently hit the back of the car.
Torgovnic says that was what motivated the attack that was captured by the cameras. He said he stopped when he heard the thud to make sure everyone was okay.
“I started to open the driver’s door, but I was immediately surrounded on all sides by these kids who just got off their bikes and started screaming, screaming, punching the car, hitting the car’s hood, just screaming, ‘Get out, get out, open the window roller, roll the window ‘, “he said.” When I didn’t, they started to discount their aggression in the car itself. “
Anyone with information is requested to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or in Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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