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Subway Beating Victim Will Press Charges
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 11, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 11, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Rafael Cruz, whose beating on an A train at the hands - and feet - of a group of teenag girls was captured on video, will press charges with the police. Sources tell the Daily News that Cruz "filed a formal complaint with the NYPD Transit Bureau" last night.
As some people wondered if the video was fake, one man, Kevin Belvin, recognized his daughter Kierra Brown as one of the girls seen in the video and asked for the victim to speak out. Three days after the video surfaced, Cruz revealed that he was the man in the video seen trying to mind his own business, "I kept saying I was just waiting for my stop. I told them I didn't want to fight. Then for some reason they took a swing. I put my head down."
Belvin told the News, "If this leads her to being arrested, so be it. I'll be here for her. I'll be here through this if she wants me to." And Brown made a statement:
I was one of the young ladies in the film. I want to apologize for the embarrassment, for being on the news and being in the newspaper. I just want to let him [Cruz] know that I am not an animal. On a daily basis I don't really act like that at all...
...I would just like to say to him [Cruz], to sincerely apologize for the acts of violence...
Brown also confirmed that she didn't known the teen who filmed the incident, Kajdera Holmes. A lawyer for Holmes now says she's sorry she didn't help the victim.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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