A dad out for a Sunday drive on his first wedding anniversary was beaten and slashed by a vicious mob of motorcyclists in upper Manhattan who dragged him from his SUV in front of his wife and 2-year-old child.
Alexian Lien, 33, of lower Manhattan, became the target of the brutal bikers when he accidently struck one who cut him off on the Henry Hudson Parkway, triggering a wild 4-mile chase, cops said Monday.
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said up to 30 motorcyclists — many on sport and dirt bikes — finally caught up to Lien when he exited the parkway in Washington Heights and got stuck at a red light.
Startling video taken by a biker with a helmet cam shows one of the moto-psychos bashing in the driver’s-side window of the black Range Rover with a helmet and another pounding on the rear window, where Lien’s daughter was in a car seat.
“He’s taken out of the car. He is assaulted,” Kelly said.
Lien, director of the e-commerce firm Skrill.com, was punched and slashed in the face with a knife in the shocking attack that occurred in daylight hours in front of horrified witnesses.
By the time cops reached the scene, the bikers had driven off, leaving the pummeled Lien lying face-down on the pavement.
The bloodied victim, a graduate of Columbia University, was taken to Columbia University Medical Center, where he received stitches for his wounds and was later released.
Lien could not be reached for comment Monday, and his wife, Rosalyn Ng, was too distraught to speak when reached by phone.
The hell-on-wheels ordeal began unfolding about 2 p.m. Sunday when Lien and his family found themselves swarmed suddenly by motorcycles hogging the northbound lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway near W. 116th St., police sources said.
Lien struck one of the riders who cut him off then hit the brakes. The video of the incident shows the rider swerving in front of Lien’s SUV just before the accident.
Sources said Lien stopped, but “feared for his safety” as several of the wild ones got off their bikes and began to beat on his SUV. The terrified Lien dialed 911 on his cell phone, the sources said.
“He’s surrounded by about 20 to 30 motorcyclists,” Kelly said. “They take their helmets and they start to dent his car and apparently his tires are slashed there with a knife. He’s in the car with his wife. He continues to drive.”
The dramatic helmet-cam footage, which went viral on YouTube, shows Lien hitting the gas and plowing through and over at least three motorcycles, striking at least one rider and breaking his legs, before speeding away.
“The rider was bleeding out of his mouth and nose even though he had a helmet on,” said a witness, who asked to remain anonymous. “He was conscious but couldn’t move at all.”
As some riders hopped off their bikes to tend to their injured friend, other angry bikers began to speed up the thoroughfare in pursuit of the SUV.
At one point, the motorcycles again surrounded Lien’s luxe, four-wheel-drive ride, this time near W. 125th St. One of the bikers tried to open the door, but Lien hit the gas, striking another motorcycle.
Lien exited the parkway at W. 178th St., trying to lose the pack, but was slowed down by his slashed, flattened tires.
When he was forced to stop in traffic at a red light on W. 178th St. near Wadsworth Ave., the bikers attacked.
The footage then cuts off — but police say the bikers pulled Lien from his SUV, beat him to the ground and slashed his face.
“They had been riding all over the city being a menace,” said Cynthia Williams, 59, of Harlem, who saw a pack of bikers on W. 145th St. more than an hour after the attack on Lien.
“They went up on the sidewalk. It was just so many of them that they took up the whole street.”
Sources said Jeremiah Mieses, 26, of Lawrence, Mass., was the biker struck by Lien’s vehicle and was hospitalized with two broken legs.
“My son just got out of surgery. Now we have to contend with his situation that he will never walk again,” Mieses’ father, the Rev. Edwin Mieses of Hazleton, Pa., posted on Facebook.
No arrests were immediately made in the attack on Lien.
Police said Lien is not expected to be charged, but the investigation is continuing.
Kelly said cops were using the video and surveillance cameras try to identify some of the bikers, but most of the motorcycles didn’t have license plates and riders’ faces were obscured by their helmets.
The commissioner said police had been monitoring the ride — loosely organized by a group that calls itself Hollywood Stuntz. He said about 1,000 riders caused chaos in Times Square last year when they showed up out of nowhere and disrupted traffic.
Police arrested 15 bikers and confiscated 55 motorcycles during incidents Sunday unrelated to the Lien attack, Kelly said. He said 68 summonses were issued.
Commenters on the story of the attack posted on NYDailyNews.com said Lien was justified to flee to protect his wife and child.
“I hope they find, castrate and hang these guys,” one commenter posted. “WHERE IS THE MAYOR? WHERE IS THE PD?”
With Edgar Sandoval, Mark Morales and Tina Moore
