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Grinning Venezuelan woman arrested in connection with migrant beatdown of cops in Times Square
By Snejana Farberov, Kyle Schnitzer, Joe Marino,
2024-03-12
She’s not grinning anymore.
A 20-year-old Venezuelan woman accused of kicking a cop in Times Square — and seen smirking in a photo released by the NYPD — was stone-faced Tuesday as a Manhattan judge jailed her on $25,000 bail in connection to the controversial migrant mob beating of the two police officers.
Dressed in a green Nike sweatshirt and jeans, a deadpan Edgarlis Vegas was led into a Manhattan courtroom to face a judge for the first time following her arrest Monday morning in Brooklyn on a warrant for a charge of assault on a police officer stemming from the Jan. 27 melee.
Vegas, a native of Venezuela who has been in New York City for two to three months, was captured on surveillance video striking an officer with the back of her foot, Assistant District Attorney Zachary Kotin.
Edgarlis Vegas is arraigned for allegedly attacking police officers in Times Square. Steven Hirsch The 20-year-old Venezuelan woman is suspected of kicking a police lieutenant during the melee attack. Steven Hirsch Edgarlis Vegas, 20, has been arrested on a charge of assaulting a police officer in connection with the January Times Square cop beatdown.
Vegas, a native of Venezuela who has been in New York City for two to three months, was captured on surveillance video striking an officer with the back of her foot.
When cops busted her at around 8:30 a.m. Monday, Vegas allegedly admitted to being at the scene of the beatdown – but initially claimed she did nothing and was “only watching the incident unfold.”
But her story changed — not once, but twice — when she was confronted with the surveillance footage, the prosecutor said.
Vegas at first allegedly told cops that she was trying to move the group of people milling about near Times Square and fell backward.
Then she offered an alternative account, claiming that “she was kicking a different member of the group and may have accidentally kicked the officer,” Kotin told the judge.
The prosecutor requested that Vegas be held on a $30,000 cash bail or a $90,000 partially secured bond — while the suspect’s defense lawyer, Eric Bernstein, asked the judge to cut her loose on her own recognizance.
In the end, Vegas was ordered held by Judge Pamela Goldsmith on a $25,000 cash bail or a $75,000 surety bond pending her next court appearance, set for Thursday.
Vegas had only been staying in Brooklyn for a few days when she was arrested there — after cops put out an image of her smiling widely during their search for the suspected attacker.
Vegas, a Venezuelan national living in Brooklyn, was picked up in Midtown Manhattan on Monday.
Vegas, who has no prior history of arrests, has become the 13th suspect detained over the cop beatdown that sent shockwaves through the city and sparked calls for the suspects to be deported.
“Get them all and send them back,” Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters last month. “You don’t touch our police officers. You don’t touch anyone.”
More than six weeks after the sidewalk skirmish, police are still on the hunt for two more suspects, one of whom was last seen wearing a bright red hoodie and the other a dark puffer jacket.
The violence erupted when one of the two police officers tried to detain a migrant who failed to move along on West 42nd Street.
Thirteen people have been arrested so far in connection with the wild, caught-on-video brawl that injured an officer and a lieutenant. DCPI More than six weeks after the sidewalk skirmish, police are still on the hunt for two more suspects. Cops are still searching for two more suspects. DCPI Viral video showed a scrum of people viciously kicking and punching the officer and a lieutenant who was also at the scene. DCPI
Viral video showed a scrum of people viciously kicking and punching the officer and a lieutenant who was also at the scene.
Among those arrested and charged in the mob assault are: Yohenry Brito, 24, Yorman Reveron, 24, Ulises Bohorquez, 21, Wilson Juarez, 21, Kelvin Servat Arocha, 19, Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, and Yarwuin Madris, 17.
Many were initially released without bail by a Manhattan judge, which was met with widespread condemnation.Brito became the first suspect in the cop attack to be ordered held on bail. The suspected thief is the accused instigator behind the Jan. 27 incident. He had allegedly refused to budge when the officers tried to disperse a crowd outside a migrant shelter.
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