Four Mill Basin Teens Indicted For Brutal Attack On Two Off-Duty Officers In Bensonhurst
Four Mill Basin youths have been indicted for their connection to an attack on two NYPD officers outside of a Bensonhurst home last month, which left an off-duty detective badly beaten.
Joseph Nacmias, Jason Chalhon, Vito Morgera, and Michael Peterson, all 17-year-olds, have been variously charged in a six-count indictment with second-degree assault, third-degree assault, resisting arrest, and unlawful possession of marijuana, facing up to seven years in prison, prosecutors said.
“These teenagers allegedly attacked two off-duty police officers who identified themselves and simply asked the teens – in the early hours of a Sunday morning – to stop jumping on cars and making a lot of noise in a residential neighborhood,” said District Attorney Ken Thompson. “We will now seek to hold them accountable for their conduct.”
Detective Daniel Alessandrino heard a rowdy crowd causing a ruckus outside his 15th Avenue home on February 8, at approximately 12:20am, and went outside to check on the situation, prosecutors said, citing a 62nd Precinct investigation. The off-duty detective saw a group of about 15 to 20 teenagers, mostly males, making a lot of noise, and banging and jumping on cars.
Alessandrino, who was followed out of the house by his girlfriend, off-duty Officer Jaline Bernier, told the teens he didn’t want any trouble and asked them to leave the area, to which defendant Nacmias allegedly replied, “What are you going to do? Call a cop?”
When Alessandrino identified himself and Officer Bernier as members of the NYPD, Nacmias allegedly replied: “I don’t care. I’ll kill a cop. A cop is going to die tonight.”
Nacmias allegedly lunged at Alessandrino and began punching him at his head and body, prosecutors said. When Alessandrino pushed Nacmias away, the teen allegedly attacked Bernier. When Alessandrino tried to intervene, he was allegedly pushed to the ground and surrounded by the teens, who kicked, punched, and stomped on him, including kicking him in the head. They were arrested shortly afterward.
Alessandrino suffered swelling and lacerations about the eye, nose, jaw, head, arm and knee, broken teeth, and bruising of his chest and shoulder. Bernier suffered swelling of the eye and pain in her face.