A 20-year-old Venezuelan woman accused of kicking a cop in Times Square — and seen smirking in an NYPD photo — was stone-faced Tuesday as a Manhattan judge detained her on $25,000 bond in connection with the notorious migrant mob beating of two police officers.
Wearing a green Nike sweater and pants, a deadpan Edgarlis Vegas was carried into a Manhattan courtroom to see a judge for the first time after being arrested Monday morning in Brooklyn on a warrant for assault on a police officer in connection with the January 27 melee.
Vegas, a Venezuelan native who has been in New York City for two to three months, was seen on surveillance footage striking a cop with the back of her foot, according to Assistant District Attorney Zachary Kotin.
When authorities apprehended her at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Vegas apparently admitted to being at the scene of the beating, but originally claimed she did nothing and was “only watching the incident unfold.”
However, when confronted with the CCTV evidence, her account altered twice, according to the prosecution.
Vegas initially claimed to officers that she fell backward while attempting to move a crowd near Times Square.
Then she gave an alternative story, stating that “she was kicking a different member of the group and may have accidentally kicked the officer,” Kotin told the judge.
The prosecutor urged that Vegas be kept on $30,000 cash bail or a $90,000 partially secured bond, while the suspect’s defense attorney, Eric Bernstein, asked the judge to release her on her own recognizance.
In the end, Judge Pamela Goldsmith ordered Vegas held on a $25,000 cash bail or a $75,000 surety bond until her next court appearance on Thursday.
Vegas had only been in Brooklyn for a few days when she was detained – after detectives released an image of her smiling broadly during their search for the alleged attacker.
Vegas, who has no past arrest record, is the 13th suspect apprehended in connection with the cop beatdown, which sent shockwaves through the city and triggered calls for the perpetrators to be deported.
“Get them all and send them back,” governor Kathy Hochul told reporters last month. “Do not touch our police officers. “You do not touch anyone.”
More than six weeks after the sidewalk battle, police are still looking for two more suspects, one of whom was last seen wearing a bright red hoodie and the other a dark puffer jacket.
The violence began when one of the two police officers attempted to detain a migrant who refused to go along West 42nd Street.
A viral video shows a crowd aggressively kicking and hitting the cop and a lieutenant who was also on the scene.
Yohenry Brito, 24, Yorman Reveron, 24, Ulises Bohorquez, 21, Wilson Juarez, 21, Kelvin Servat Arocha, 19, Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, and Yarwuin Madris, 17, have been arrested and charged in connection with the mob assault.
Many were first released without bond by a Manhattan judge, prompting considerable outcry.Brito was the first suspect in the cop attack to be ordered detained on bail. The alleged thief is the accused instigator of the Jan. 27 incident. He allegedly refused to move as police attempted to disperse a crowd outside a migrant shelter.
Jhoan Boada, 22, was initially prosecuted but was “exonerated” after being misidentified, prosecutors said earlier this month.
