Grand jury indicts suspect in alleged NYPD Times Square assault
- A group of people including migrants allegedly attacked two NYPD officers
- All but one suspect, indicted Tuesday, were released without bail
- Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg faced backlash after other suspects fled the state
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(NewsNation) — One of the suspects arrested following the alleged attack on NYPD officers in Times Square last month was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday.
Yohenry Brito allegedly triggered the group attack, according to WABC, and was indicted for his role in the assault. The charges against him will be unsealed at a later date.
Surveillance footage, recorded Jan. 27 outside a Manhattan homeless shelter, showed several men kicking officers on a sidewalk and trying to pry them off a man police had taken to the ground.
Police arrested at least seven people in connection with the attack, though prosecutors dropped charges against one person they say may not have been involved.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released most of the other suspects taken into custody without bail, saying prosecutors have to look at a lot of individuals and surveillance video in order to build a case.
This move sparked backlash after some of the released suspects were seen getting on a bus headed out of New York City.
Increasingly, New York City officials have aimed dire rhetoric at the tens of thousands of asylum-seekers the city has put up in shelters and hotels over the past year. Some of the comments have dismayed immigration advocates, who say they are stirring up hatred over the actions of a few bad apples.
“A wave of migrant crime has washed over our city,” NYC Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at a news conference Monday about a Venezuelan man being sought in a series of cell phone robberies. He likened the suspect’s accomplices to ”ghost criminals,” claiming they had come to New York “with no criminal history, no photos, no social media.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.