Family: Biker in SUV assault a devoted dad
NEW YORK — A motorcycle rider who was struck by an SUV during a motorcycle rally that turned violent is a family man who was simply trying to defuse a tense situation, his attorney and family members said Friday.
Tears streamed down Dayana Mejia’s face during a news conference as she described her longtime partner, Edwin Mieses Jr., as an adoring father to the couple’s two children.
“He is the best father I know,” she said. “And he would give the shirt off his back to anyone.”
Dozens of bikers rode alongside a black Range Rover on Manhattan’s West Side Highway last weekend until a biker slowed down and the vehicles bumped, police said. Video captured at the scene shows the SUV surrounded by helmeted riders.
In the video, one rider approaches the vehicle and peers into the driver’s side window. Police said others tried to damage the SUV before the driver, Alexian Lien, took off and plowed over Mieses. The bikers then chased after Lien and smashed his car window with their helmets, then pulled him from the SUV and beat him to the point where he required stitches.
Lien’s wife, Rosalyn Ng, has said her family’s sympathies go out to Mieses, but they had to flee a dangerous situation. She said her husband was trying to protect her and their 2-year-old child, who was also in the car at the time.
Mieses, who is from Lawrence, Mass., suffered a broken spine, fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a torn aortic valve, said his defense attorney, Gloria Allred. His injuries may have left him paralyzed.
“He told everyone to move on and go back to riding, and turned his back to the SUV to start walking back to his own bike,” Allred said. “It was then, with his back to the SUV, and as he was in front of it, that he was run over and crushed.”
