FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Four Teenagers Indicted in Connection With Early Morning Assault Of Two Off-Duty Police Officers in Bensonhurst
Four Teenagers Indicted in Connection With Early Morning Assault
Of Two Off-Duty Police Officers in Bensonhurst
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that four teenagers have been indicted in connection with an attack on two members of the New York City Police Department outside of a Bensonhurst residence last month, leaving one of the victims, an off-duty detective, badly beaten.
District Attorney Thompson said, “These teenagers allegedly attacked two off-duty Police Officers who identified themselves and simply asked the teens – in the early hours of a Sunday morning – to stop jumping on cars and making a lot of noise in a residential neighborhood. We will now seek to hold them accountable for their conduct.”
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Joseph Nacmias, 17, of 274 Mayfair Drive North; Jason Chalhon,17, of 2672 East 66th Street; Vito Morgera, 17, of 2725 Mill Avenue; and Michael Peterson,17, of 6623 Avenue T, all of Mill Basin, Brooklyn. The defendants are variously charged in a six-count indictment with second-degree assault, third-degree assault, resisting arrest and unlawful possession of marijuana. They will be arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court at a later date. The top count carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on February 8, 2015, at approximately 12:20 a.m., in the vicinity of 15th Avenue, in Bensonhurst, NYPD Detective Daniel Alessandrino heard a rowdy group of teenagers creating a disturbance outside of his home. Alessandrino, who was off-duty, went outside to check on the situation and saw a group of about 15 to 20 teenagers, mostly males, making a lot of noise and banging and jumping on cars.
Alessandrino, who was followed out of the house by his girlfriend, off-duty NYPD Officer Jaline Bernier, told the teens he didn’t want any trouble and asked them to leave the area, to which defendant Nacmias allegedly replied: “What are you going to do? Call a cop?” Alessandrino then identified himself and Officer Bernier as members of the NYPD. Nacmias then allegedly replied: “I don’t care. I’ll kill a cop. A cop is going to die tonight.”
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, Nacmias then lunged at Alessandrino and began punching him about the head and body. When Alessandrino pushed Nacmias away, he allegedly attacked Bernier. When Alessandrino tried to intervene, he was allegedly pushed to the ground and surrounded by the teens, who then kicked, punched and stomped on him, including kicking him in the head. They were arrested shortly thereafter.
Alessandrino suffered swelling and lacerations about the eye, nose, jaw, head, arm and knee, broken teeth and bruising of his chest and shoulder. Bernier suffered swelling of the eye and pain in her face.
The case was investigated by Detective Natalya Edelshteyn of the New York City Police Department’s 62nd Precinct Detective Squad, under the supervision of Captain William Taylor, Commanding Officer.
The case was additionally investigated by Detective Investigator Kolawole Olosunde, under the supervision of Chief Investigator John Bilich, of the District Attorney’s Investigations Bureau.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Farin Chasin and James Slattery of the District Attorney’s Trial Bureau V – Orange Zone, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Thomas C. Ridges, Chief.
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