Christopher Cruz, Charged in Manhattan Biker Attack, Says He Didn’t Want to Cause Problems

Christopher Cruz, right, appears in criminal court with his lawyer H. Benjamin Perez in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. Cruz was charged Wednesday with reckless driving after prosecutors said he touched off a tense encounter with the driver of an SUV and a throng of other bikers. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Christopher Cruz, whose action of slowing down in front of an SUV set off a series of other actions that led to the SUV driver being beaten, says he doesn’t feel responsible for the attack.

“I never had intentions to slow him down or cause any type of problems,” Cruz told ABC. “I don’t think I feel responsible.”

Cruz, 28, has been charged with reckless endangerment. He faces up to one year in jail.

He slowed down in front of the SUV driven by Alexian Lien on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan. After Lien came to a stop, he was surrounded by bikers who were riding with Cruz. Lien sped away, running over at least one biker in the process, and was later caught by a group of the bikers and beaten.

“[It was] never my intention to make him stop,” Cruz said. “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong with just turning into another lane. The other bikes are going as slow as I am.”

Cruz said he was approaching Lien for an explanation over what happened.

“He looked straight ahead and never made eye contact with me,” Cruz said. “So I just went back to my bike and when I was getting on he took off.”

“I do feel badly for the family that got hurt,” said Cruz, who suffered minor back injuries in the crash.

Cruz said the situation has impacted him greatly. 

“It has turned my life upside down,” he said. 

Rosalyn Ng, Lien’s wife, said that the family feared for their lives during the situation. 

“Our sympathies go out to the injured motorcyclist and his family. However, we were faced with a life-threatening situation, and my husband was forced under the circumstances to take the actions that he did in order to protect the lives of our entire family,” Ng wrote.

She added: “Our fear for our lives was confirmed when the incident ended with the ruthless and brutal attack on my husband, me, and, most importantly, our two-year-old child. We know in our hearts that we could not have done anything differently, and we believe that anyone faced with this sort of grave danger would have taken the same course of action in order to protect their family.”

The attack on Lien ended after several bystanders stepped in to stop it.