On September 29, 2013, Alexian Lien’s life was changed forever, thanks to a vicious attack by a motorcycle gang. In a bizarre series of events recorded by a helmet-cam one of the bikers was wearing, Lien was chased 50 blocks in New York City after bumping into a motorcycle which had appeared to purposefully slow-down in front of Lien’s vehicle. After this minor incident, the rest of the motorcycle gang lost their cool and started attacked Lien’s vehicle, bashing in windows and slashing tires. In order to escape their behavior, Lien took off in his Range Rover, running over one of the motorcyclists during his escape. Lien was eventually surrounded once again on 178th Street, where the gang then drug Lien from his car and nearly beat him to death in front of his wife and 2 year old daughter.
After investigations by the NYPD, 14 suspects were arrested for their part in the crime. One of those suspects was Wojciech Braszczok, an undercover cop for the NYPD. At the time of the attack, Braszczok was off-duty. Many have questioned why he still did nothing to stop the events from transgressing, to which Braszczok responded that he could not risk his undercover identity seeing as he was participating in the ride under an alias. However, the prosecution for the case has pressed charges against Braszczok for gang assault, assault, and criminal mischief due to his violent actions committed against Lien’s vehicle, such as smashing the rear window and kicking the side of the vehicle.
In court yesterday, Braszczok plead not guilty to the charges pressed against him. As was usual for Braszczok, he showed up to court with his appearance fully veiled, wearing a scarf over his face and his hood pulled up. The only words Braszczok uttered during his arraignment were “Not guilty.” Braszczok’s lawyer, John Arlia, had no comment after the proceedings.
If convicted, Braszczok will face up to 25 years in prison.
While the actions of Braszczok are reprehensible on every level, one has to wonder why the attention is focusing on the undercover officer. Considering the severity of the beating Lien suffered, one would think that the media focus would be on the bikers who attacked Lien and not his vehicle. However, the US media and populace seem to only want to focus on the most sensational aspects of any story. Does Braszczok have a bigger moral imperative to perform the right actions due to his employment as an undercover officer with the NYPD? Possibly. One does not need to be an officer, though, in order to follow perhaps the most important law as established by societies throughout time – that being, murder is not okay. While the bikers did not murder Lien, he suffered beatings which could have led to his death. Braszczok should be prosecuted for his actions, yes, but the perpetrators of the egregious violent actions against Lien should not escape media scrutiny due to Braszczok’s role as an undercover NYPD officer.
What do you think? Are Braszczok’s actions more morally reprehensible due to his role as an NYPD officer? Let us know in the Comments Section Below.
[Image via YouTube]