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Teen Charged With Manslaughter "Self-Defense" Stabbing
By
Ben Muessig
Published Dec 30, 2009
Modified Dec 30, 2009
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Dec 30, 2009
Modified Dec 30, 2009
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The 16-year-old girl who stabbed and killed a man she claimed had groped her near the 21st Street-Queensbridge subway station was hit with first-degree manslaughter and weapons possession charges that could put her behind bars for 25 years, according to the Times. Cyan Brown turned herself in yesterday after hiding out with relatives following the Dec. 24 incident, which left 29-year-old aspiring rapper Thomas Winston dead.
Brown's family has defended the high school sophomore, arguing that she only pulled the knife after Winston and a group of five to seven men began harassing her, and one of them tried to force himself on her. But police sources told the Daily News that the teen instigated the altercation. "She was the main aggressor, without a doubt."
Cops — like Winston's family — now say that the incident began when a male friend of Brown's bumped into Winston on an F train at the 21st Street-Queensbridge station. Winston and his friends asked the man to apologize, sparking a dispute that spilled out of the subway station and onto the sidewalk in front of a restaurant, the tabloid reports. Brown, who according to earlier reports was on her way to the eatery, got involved. "She takes over, gets mouthy," the source said. "She reaches in her bag, takes out a weapon, lunges at him and cuts him." According to police, Brown then fled onto an F train as Winston's friends chased her. Investigators initially believed the teen's self-defense claims, but grew skeptical of some parts of the account.
Relatives of Winston — an aspiring rapper who had been arrested multiple times and lived in nearby shelter — say he was turning his life around following the birth of his daughter. "When you stab somebody in the heart it should be murder first-degree," said his aunt, Diane Greenspan. "I hope justice will be served."
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21st street-queensbridge
cyan brown
long island city
queensbridge
self-defense
stabbing
thomas winston
Ben Muessig
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