New details have emerged in the tragic case of a SUV driver who ran over a biker while fleeing a mob of motorcycle riders.
The wife of the injured biker, Edwin Mieses Jr, claims he was only trying to help his fellow biker who was run over by 33-year-old Alexian Lien.
Mieses, 26, is in critical condition in a New York hospital with head and back injuries.
Lien, whose wife and toddler were in the SUV, accidentally tapped the back of a bike being driven by Christopher Cruz, causing Cruz to lose control of the bike.
“There’s no hope for his back,’ Dayana Mieses told ABC News. “They crushed his spine. They broke it in two different places, so he will be forever, forever paralyzed.”
Lien initially pulled over after the accident, but he fled — running over Mieses — when Cruz’s fellow bikers surrounded the SUV.
The resulting chase was captured on the helmet cam of one of the bikers.
Lien told police he was scared for his safety, and the safety of his wife and child, when he ran over Mieses and several other bikers. The bikers eventually caught up to Lien and beat him when he was forced to stop in heavy traffic.
But Mrs. Mieses says the bikers have been unfairly portrayed as villains.
“When all the bikers stopped, my husband got out, parked his bike to walk over to try to help his friend,” she said. “He walked over towards the front of the vehicle when, at this point, I don’t know what happened: the man was scared, the man just peeled off and ran over my husband.”
Cruz and another biker were later identified and arrested for reckless driving. Police say they don’t plan to arrest Lien. But Mieses’ family says they are considering suing Lien.
