NYPD brass blasts migrant cop attackers as cowards; suspect flips middle finger on way out of court

A group of eight migrants accused of pummeling a pair of cops in a caught-on-camera Midtown attack are “cowards” who “should be sitting on Rikers Island,” a top NYPD official says.

One of the suspects took a defiant posture Wednesday, flashing two middle fingers after being arraigned in court.

All five young men taken into custody so far for the Saturday night brawl outside a migrant shelter on W. 42nd St. near Seventh Ave. have been released without bail — enflaming the already heated debate surrounding the city’s migrant crisis.

“You saw the video. Reprehensible,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told reporters following the annual State of the NYPD Breakfast at Cipriani 42nd St., about five blocks from where the attack took place. “(They’re) cowards. You have eight people attacking a lieutenant and a cop, running up to them to kick them in the face.”

The two cops were trying to quell a disorderly group outside the Candler Building moments before the brawl broke out about 8:30 p.m., surveillance video released by police shows. When the two officers try to put a man in a yellow jacket under arrest, they’re suddenly attacked by multiple people from all sides.

“They were kicking and punching one of the cops,” a security guard in the area told the Daily News on Tuesday. “They mobbed [the cops]. It was wild.”

Both cops suffered scratches, bumps and bruises in the attack, Chell said.

“The video speaks for itself,” Chell said Wednesday. “(The officers) stayed and fought, but eight on two is hard to combat.”

Cops arrested Yorman Reveron, 24, Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, Wilson Juarez, 21, and Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, at the scene. A fifth suspect, Jhoan Boada, 22, was apprehended Monday night.

All five suspects faced charges of either assault on a police officer, gang assault or attempted assault and other charges. But the four apprehended Saturday night were set free without bail after their arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, Chell noted.

Following his Wednesday arraignment, Boada was also released without bail after his attorney adamantly denied the man was involved in the brawl.

“He says if you watch the videotape, you will not see him on there,” said attorney Javier Damien. “He wasn’t involved in this situation at all.”

One of the officers involved in the attack recalled Boada’s distinctive pink shoes and recognized him in a wanted flyer related to the incident, prosecutors said.

As he left the courthouse, Boada flashed twin middle fingers at a small group of reporters and photographers.

“I don’t understand,” he said in Spanish. “I didn’t do nothing.”

Chell put the attack in the big picture.

“They should be sitting on Rikers, being indicted this week and taken off our streets,” he said. “You want to know why our cops are getting assaulted? There’s no consequences. We must change this. End of story.”

One of the men arrested Saturday, Reveron, was ordered held on supervised release, meaning he was set free but has to check in with a social worker before his next court date.

Everyone arraigned is facing up to seven years in jail if convicted, according to DA spokesman Doug Cohen.

“Violence against police officers is never acceptable,” he said, noting that the investigation into the fight is ongoing. “It is paramount that we conclusively identify each defendant and specify each participant’s role in the incident.”

It was not immediately clear if the district attorney’s office asked for the defendants to be held on bail.

“Violence against NYPD officers and municipal workers doing their jobs, or any New Yorker generally, is wrong and unacceptable. It’s critical that people are held accountable for committing acts of violence,” Shirley Limongi, a spokeswoman for Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens), said in a statement.

Three of the five arrested live in migrant shelters in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, police said. Gomez-Izquiel is from Mississippi and Boada is homeless, according to cops.

None of the men arrested lived in the Candler Building, which the city turned into a mega-shelter for migrants in March. Men often hang out behind the building drinking and smoking, the guard said.

The shelter at the Candler Building has capacity for hundreds of migrants and the previously vacant site has been providing food and services including health care.

The shelter there was one of the first where adult migrants received 30-day notices informing them they had to get out. More than 100,000 migrants came to the city last year alone.

Among a handful of violent incidents linked to migrants, six were arrested and two cops were injured in a brawl that broke out when officers confiscated scooters in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in September.

Chell said he was proud that the two officers held their ground in the fight but added that the release of the four suspects will just embolden others to attack police officers in the future.

“If a bad person sees what happened here (with their release), the next time they get stopped by a cop, they might have to go for it, too,” Chell said.

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Cops were still looking for three people responsible for the attack and released photos of the wanted men in the hopes someone recognizes them. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.