Age 15 Boy Arrested After Video of Harrowing Mob Attack on SUV Goes Viral
One teen has been arrested after a gang of youths on bicycles turned a Manhattan street into a “war zone.”
On Tuesday, a large group of what appeared to be teens on bikes surrounded a BMW and viciously attacked the car, as shown in a video that has gone viral.
On Wednesday, police said they had arrested a 15-year-old in connection with the incident, according to the New York Post. The Queens teen is not being identified because of his age.
Why bother arresting him when @NYCMayor and @NYGovCuomo will make sure that he’s released immediately? ?♀️?
15-year-old arrested for BMW bicycle gang attack in NYC https://t.co/cRC2Cx9Cxn
— Sharklady ? (@Sharklady57) December 31, 2020
On an average afternoon, on 5th avenue in NYC gang of 20 Black Teenagers on bicycles attack a car with a son driving his mother mother driving in the city to see the holiday sites. Where are the police?
Is NYC lost to the gangs? Do we need a militia to save these cities? https://t.co/3wb0BX1C9V
— Al (@NjMike02) December 31, 2020
“The attack was something that I never expected to happen in New York City,” said Max Torgovnick, the owner of the BMW, who was driving around 4 p.m. when his car was attacked at 21st Street and Fifth Avenue.
“That’s something like you would see on the streets of a war zone. I never thought New York would get this bad,” he said, according to the New York Post.
[firefly_poll]
Torgovnick was driving with his mother from a nonprofit that helps the homeless and AIDS victims to his father’s neurology office when the incident occurred.
“I slowed down to let them go by, but then they started surrounding the car on either side, and one of the bikers did a wheelie and went into the back of my car,” said Torgovnick. “I stopped to make sure nobody was hurt.”
Then the violence escalated. As shown in the video, the youths appeared to attack the car with their fists and bicycles while calling for Torgovnick and his mother to get out. One biker jumped up and down on the windshield until it shattered and partially caved in.
“At that point, I was afraid that they were going to break the window, get in the car, reach in, and pull us out,” Torgovnick said.
“My only thoughts at that moment were self-defense, [that] I wanted to protect my mother and I also didn’t want to hurt anyone,” he said.
His mother, who is in her 70s, dialed 911 during the attack.
“She was screaming, ‘We’re going to die, they’re going to kill us,’” Torgovnick said.
Torgovnick “found an opening” and drove a few blocks away.
He said that while seeing the hate-filled side of the city he has called home all his life, he also saw its better side.
“The cops were unbelievably comforting,” said Torgovnick. “That’s the other thing about New Yorkers. They’re very helpful.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
