Five members of the “Williamsburg Safety Patrol Unit,” a civilian neighborhood watch group, have been indicted on multiple charges in the beating of a 23-year-old fashion student in the early hours of Dec. 1, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced Wednesday.
Pinchas Braver, 19, Mayer Herskovic, 21, Abraham Winkler, 39, Joseph Fried, 25 and Aharon Hollander, 28, were all charged with acting in concert to commit gang assault in the first and second degree, as well as related charges involving assault, unlawful imprisonment and menacing. They face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The DA said the defendants chased and detained Taj Patterson, 23, who was walking home from a night of partying. When Patterson tried to free himself from the group, which had grown to about 15 members, “he was held down, and savagely punched and kicked by a number of the males surrounding him, including these defendants,” according to the indictment announcement.
