A man accused of slapping a woman on the F train in New York City over the weekend got his charges dropped, according to reports on Wednesday.
The man, identified in reports as Jorge Pena, was among four people arrested for a brawl on the train that was captured on camera and uploaded to YouTube.
In the video, an African-American woman, identified as Shanique Campbell, is seen making fun of Pena’s jacket for several minutes before he slapped her, which sparked a fight between several people.
Pena has been described by Gothamist as the “8-ball jacket subway slapper.”
The video of him slapping the woman went viral and was viewed about 4 million times.
Pena’s lawyer, Cary London, told the New York Post that the charges were dropped because the woman appeared to be the aggressor in the video.
“This time the system worked,” London told the paper. “Thank God for smartphones because the DA’s office was able to have all of the information in front of them at an early stage to show that our client did nothing wrong and acted in self-defense.”
London told the New York Daily News, however, that Pena will sue the city of New York over his arrest.
“He is thrilled. He is happy. He has never been arrested before in his entire life,” London added. “He was completely sober — he just got off of a 12-hour shift,” he added.
It is not clear when the lawsuit against the city will be filed.
