NEW YORK — A Venezuelan man who became the subject of national attention for allegedly kicking a police officer in Times Square and then turning off news cameras as he left the courtroom was acquitted of wrongdoing on Friday after prosecutors concluded he played no role in the attack.
The stunning exoneration by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg came weeks after 22-year-old Jhoan Boada was widely vilified as the “smug” face of a Jan. 27 brawl between migrants and police officers in New York City, which sparked widespread political fury.
He was prominently featured in a pro-Trump political ad titled “Joe Biden’s Middle Finger,” which ended with a still image of Boada making the gesture as he walked out of his first charge.
In a Manhattan courtroom Friday, prosecutors told a judge that further investigation showed Boada did not participate in the attack. The man seen in the video kicking an officer wearing pink shoes – initially identified by police as Boada – is now believed to be a separate person. The man has been charged and is awaiting criminal arraignment.
A lawyer for Boada, Javier Damien, said his client was the victim of a “rush to judgment” by the media, police and elected officials. “It was a political issue and people were being attacked with a broad brush,” he said. “It’s very sad.”
Boada, who lives in the city’s homeless shelter, has maintained his innocence from the start. During his arraignment on Jan. 31, his lawyer told the judge that Boada had asked for the surveillance footage of the incident to be widely distributed because “anyone who watches the videotape will not see him there.”
Prosecutors agreed to release him without bail, noting he had no criminal history and that they were still conducting “a thorough analysis of the incident and the suspect’s role in it,” according to a transcript of the procedure.
News of Boada’s release provoked fiery reactions from the conservative media and the city’s police at the time. In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” NYPD Chief John Chell suggested that Boada and others fled the city on a bus — a claim later contradicted by officials.
“To make it worse for all of us, and we are very well-meaning people in New York City, to literally point the finger on our way out the door,” Chell continued. “This is a whole host of issues that we need to talk about, and it stops here.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, also lashed out at prosecutors’ decision not to seek bail, adding that all those involved in the attack should be deported.
In the weeks after the brawl, the Manhattan district attorney acknowledged that some of the people initially accused of kicking police turned out to have played a less significant role in the fight than previously thought.
“We must ensure that we identify and charge the individuals who actually committed criminal acts in this case,” Bragg said. “The only thing worse than failing to bring perpetrators to justice is ensnaring innocent people in the criminal justice system.”
An assault charge against a 21-year-old was downgraded to tampering with evidence after prosecutors determined he had not touched any police officers but had traded his jacket with one of the men who fled the confrontation.
A 19-year-old who was widely reported to have attacked officers also did not physically touch the officers, but reportedly kicked a police radio. Prosecutors also dropped assault charges against a 21-year-old due to a lack of evidence linking him to the brawl.
Damien, Boada’s lawyer, said his client was confused when police arrested him on assault charges two days after the incident, but he struggled to defend himself in English.
“He tried to explain to the officer that he wasn’t there,” the lawyer said. “But they wouldn’t listen to him.”