A Brooklyn man has been charged with assaulting his cousin after an argument that escalated into violence, the Queens District Attorney's office reports. Jonathan Velez is facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted for his alleged attack on his cousin, Manuel Rivera, which took place early morning in August on Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park. At his arraignment before Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino, Velez was indicted on counts of first and second-degree assault as well as first-degree reckless endangerment, as stated in an announcement by the Queens District Attorney's Office.
Following a birthday party, Velez, 45, and Rivera, 39, got into a disagreement while driving in Rivera’s car, that ended with Velez allegedly delivering a punch that knocked his cousin unconscious and later being him run over by a passing vehicle, based on charges cited by the Queens District Attorney's Office, Rivera was left with severe injuries including internal bleeding, a fractured skull, and a loss of teeth and remains hospitalized in an unresponsive state; the incident happened at around 4:27 a.m. on August 2, after which Velez searched Rivera's pockets and his car before fleeing the scene, leaving his cousin lying in the street.
The victim was then tragically struck by an unrelated vehicle, further worsening his already critical condition, which resulted in multiple serious injuries. According to the Queens District Attorney's Office, "the defendant cruelly delivered a knock-out punch to his own cousin and then brazenly rummaged through the unconscious man's pockets and car before leaving him for dead in the middle of Rockaway Boulevard."
Velez was later apprehended on 127th Street in Kew Gardens and is now awaiting trial, scheduled to return to court on March 9, the case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Hugh McCann of the Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, under Assistant District Attorney Michael Whitney, with supervision from Roni Piplani, Timothy Regan, and Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark, who are all working to bring justice in this sobering example of familial violence spiraling into a near-fatal tragedy.
