NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Some of the suspects accused in a violent attack caught on camera on a man in Chinatown have turned themselves in to police.
They stopped for a news conference first to proclaim themselves the good guys, and say the man targeted for the beating was no victim.
As CBS2’s Dave Carlin reports, when suspects turn themselves in to police they often move quickly, discreetly and duck TV news cameras.
That wasn’t the case with this group. It’s a large family wanting the world to know the caught-on-camera melee in Chinatown, where a man was beaten and stripped nearly naked, was not a crime – it was street justice.
Turning themselves in were Jahi, Tiffany and Tyriek Nimmons, who range in age from 20 to 36, along with 27-year-old Tymantha Richardson.
Police say a man was assaulted and robbed by a group of people in Chinatown on Jan. 22, 2021. (Credit: NYPD Crime Stoppers)
“Clearly, there should be no rush to judgment here,” said Sanford Rubenstein, the family’s attorney.
More: NYPD: Group Assaults Man, Robs Him Of Phone, Clothes In Chinatown
Rubenstein said this is a case of what you see on video on Canal Street in Chinatown Jan. 22 is not telling the complete story.
Police say a man was assaulted and robbed by a group of people in Chinatown on Jan. 22, 2021. (Credit: NYPD Crime Stoppers)
The man getting mobbed is identified as 26-year-old ex-convict Walter Ward, who the family says robbed Jahi Nimmons at gunpoint during a bus trip from Atlanta to New York City.
Taken were expensive clothes and two cell phones. The family says Nimmons was able to get to the cell phone of another bus passenger and he called his grandmother, who spoke out in front of the fifth precinct station house.
Police say a man was assaulted and robbed by a group of people in Chinatown on Jan. 22, 2021. (Credit: NYPD Crime Stoppers)
“And he told him, if the cops are there in New York, I’m killing you and your whole family. I have your ID right here,” Cassandra Nimmons said.
When the family arrived at the bus depot, they say stolen clothes were on Ward’s back, so they took them back, aggressively.
They are saying the man deserved this, but so far investigators and prosecutors are not immediately inclined to agree.
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