JUSTICE

It was not a gang , it was a mob : So, for a sex attack spree implicating several thousand wild men, it's difficult to dicern attackers and "onlookers"and difficult to dicern a clear line between flirtation and assault.

Difficult when there is some touchy ethnic group involved ,and unclear when we are in a misogynist society. But not for me ,the "onlookers" are no better than the attackers. Sure. It was all in fun; the participants of these "celebrations" are responsible for their behavior and should be held accountable. And those video-recording observers (voyeurs capturing the moment for their private collection, or opportunists contemplating a sale to the highest bidder). The way I see it, they should face consequences as well.(In France , a public rape is impossible because everybody is guilty of something : with the French Penal Code.(Article 63), the onlookers could be accused of "non-assistance to a person in danger."). But we are in USA , there's just the legal principle of "acting in concert".The american society is very preocupied by the race relation problems, the society is very repressive (the zero tolerance) but also... very permissive (thank you First Amendment) .

So, there's two different interpretations :

1:"Touching or not was besides the point, the judge said A person who acts in concert is equally guilty with one who actually does the act," said Recant.Yes, said the defense lawyer, but Taylor was reacting to what he saw, not urging it."If he importunes, solicits or egged on others, does that not constitute 'acting in concert?"

2:"This statement should not be interpreted as an arrest “free for all” where the police department arrest any and all men of color who were in Central Park. We as law enforcement officers know that historically when men of color commit crimes the police agencies are not satisfied until everyone present is arrested. " Eric ADAMS (Black Activist) - "We should remain vigilant against innocent men being railroaded in this case and against the Mayor using this to justify increased police harrassment of young men of color. "The National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights

Without the principle of "acting in concert", everything is possible.

THE WOFPACK :(some men identified in central park attacks)

An unidentified 15-year-old youth
Alexander Eraide, of Queens
Dellon Evans, 17, Queens
Tremayne Bain, 23, Brooklyn
David Rowe, 24, Hempstead, L.I.
Steven Burt, 32, Jersey City, N.J.
Isaias Lozado, 19, Queens
Manuel Vargas, 18, The Bronx
Imanuel Nunez,18, The Bronx
John Taylor, 24, Far Rockaway, Queens
Jason Commissiong, 20, Brooklyn
David Garcia, The Bronx
Roberto Camacho, 18, Inwood, Long Island
Julio de la Cruz, 22, North Bergen, N.J.
Isaiah Forbes, 18, Queens
Marc Daniels, 21, Irivington, N.J.
Leslie Marcano, 19, The Bronx
Jensen Soto, 16, Brooklyn
Trevor Britton, 29, Brooklyn
Lonnie Hopson, Rockaway Beach, Queens
David Garcia,
Abel Ortiz
Juan Miranda,23, of Paterson
Andy Alvarez, 35, Pitt St. in Manhattan
Cyheme Saunders, 23, Inwood
Onel Carrasquillo , Maryland
Jason Ortiga, 24, (videotaper)
Jose Mercado (videotaper)
Rudolph Pleasant (videotaper)
Ivan Henao, 33, Queens (videotaper)
David Grandison (videotaper)
Hasan Perez, 23 -social worker in East Harlem (onlooker)

July 11, 2000 Trials of Men Charged in Central Park attacks May Begin in Fall.

The judge hearing the cases of the young men accused of attacking women in Central Park last month said yesterday that he expected the defendants to go to trial in September.
Justice Bernard J. Fried of State Supreme Court in Manhattan scheduled dates for pretrial conferences and motions after some lawyers said they wanted time to review amateur videotapes that captured some of the attacks. He also wanted a chance to talk to prosecutors about possible plea arrangements.

Thirty young men have been charged with sexual abuse and rioting for drenching young women with water and groping them in a wild park melee after the parade.After charges against two were dropped and a third case went to Family Court, high bail was set on the rest, even though most of those arrested were first-time offenders.The number could change as the investigation continues.

Judge Fried ordered one defendant freed from custody after an assistant district attorney, Leemie Kahng, said her office was consenting to a release without bail pending further investigation. The defendant, Isaiah Forbes, 18, is charged with sex abuse and riot.

Other defendants in the case were earlier released with the consent of prosecutors after preliminary investigations failed to show definitively that they had taken part in the attacks.

Judge Fried set a trial date of Sept. 11 for all defendants who have been indicted. He scheduled the arraignments for July 24 and July 31.

October 18, 2000 - Imanuel Nunez
-- A Bronx teenager on Tuesday became the first indicted defendant to plead guilty to charges stemming from sexual attacks on women in Central Park after the Puerto Rican Day Parade in June.
Imanuel Nunez, 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree riot, admitting that he was part of a large group of men who doused women with water and groped their breasts and buttocks in the park June 11.

State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried promised Nunez six months in jail, 4 1/2 years' probation, and 250 hours of community service. The judge, who could have given Nunez up to four years in prison, will sentence him Dec. 4.

Nunez had been in jail since he was arrested June 16. Fried released him immediately because after serving two-thirds of his sentence -- four months as of Oct. 16 -- Nunez was entitled to time off for good behavior.

Nunez was originally charged with first-degree sexual abuse and second-degree assault in addition to the riot charge. The sex abuse and assault charges are each punishable by up to seven years in prison. Assistant District Attorney Lisa DelPizzo told the judge that the sentence was appropriate because Nunez's behavior "was not as egregious" as that of some of the other defendants and he had expressed remorse.

DelPizzo also said Nunez had never been arrested before and had received many letters of support from community members and from teachers who said he had never been a disciplinary problem.

Fried rejected defense lawyer Paul London's request to give Nunez youthful offender status but told him he could renew that motion later.

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OCTOBER 24, 2000 - Tremayne Bain and David Rowe

>read this (bain/rowe)

Charges were dropped Tuesday against two men nabbed in the aftermath of the Central Park sex assaults on women who were passing through the park . The district attorney handling the case admitted in court that the evidence against the two men just wasn't there.

The Manhattan district attorney decided not to go forward with the case against Rowe and Bain after reviewing thousands of hours of amateur videotape that failed to turn up evidence that the two took part in the attacks.

Attorneys for the two men said that they were initially placed at the scene by a British tourist. Gordon Ludwig, Bain’s attorney, said, “That is suspect because of the trauma of the situation, which is understandable, but absent any other corroborative evidence, it was impossible to go forward.”

It was a day of good news for a bitter Rowe and Bain, who say that their lives have been in an upheaval and may now sue the city for civil rights violations. (!)

Meanwhile, another man arrested in connection with the attacks was also in court Tuesday. Onel Carrasquillo of Maryland was arraigned on charges of sex abuse, rioting and assault.

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Thursday, October 26, 2000
A judge has ordered the city to turn over recorded police communications and other records to five women who contend some cops didn't respond to complaints of marauding gangs after the National Puerto Rican Day Parade.
The women are among more than 50 who say they were sexually assaulted in and around Central Park after the June 11 parade.

Over the city's objections, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman granted a petition filed by the five women "to assist them in framing a complaint" for a civil suit against the city.

The Oct. 17 order, which was disclosed this week, requires the city to provide the women with copies of police radio transmissions and 911 dispatch tapes made between noon and 8 p.m. the day of the parade.

The city also must supply copies of command and personnel logs for police details at the parade and inside Central Park.

"Having the 911 tapes is definitely a small victory, feeling like for the first time I'm going to be able to identify the officers that didn't respond to me specifically, rather than feeling lack of closure," Anne Peyton Bryant, one of the five women, said at a news conference yesterday.

"We now have the tools to identify those police officers who were present and were aware of criminal activity taking place and women being violated that day in the park," said attorney Susan Karten, who filed the petition. City lawyers did not immediately return calls for comment.

Bryant said she remained scarred by the incident.

"I will never be the same again," Bryant said, her voice choking with emotion.

NOVEMBER 06TH, 2000 - Herbert Negron
A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree sexual abuse in an attack on a teenage girl in Central Park after the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in June.A 14-year-old girl claimed Negron tore off her shirt and fondled her.. He has also admitted to sexually abusing other women.

Herbert Negron, 40, who also was charged with assault and riot, accepted a plea deal and admitted his role in the molestation, apologized for it and said he is "ready to pay my debt to society."

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried will sentence Negron to three years in prison Dec. 12, as set out in the plea bargain. Negron could have faced up to seven years if convicted. He will be registered as a sex offender.

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November 16, 2000 -Steven Burt

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty yesterday to groping three women in Central Park after the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in June.Steven Burt, 32, of Jersey City, became the fourth man to cop a plea in the rampage .Burt admitted touching the buttocks of three women after the parade, prosecutors said.He pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree riot and faces 2 1</MD>/</MD>2</MD> years behind bars when he is sentenced on Dec. 13.

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November 17, 2000 - Akuan Johnson

Akuan Johnson, 22, who had also been charged with first-degree sex abuse, accepted a plea deal and became the fifth man to plead guilty as a result of their behavior in the park after the June 11 parade. Johnson was one of 30 people indicted in connection with the attacks. A felony complaint filed after he was arrested said a woman had identified Johnson as having grabbed her buttocks.

Johnson, of Far Rockaway, told State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried that he "saw girls being stripped, trampled, and grabbed at." He did not plead guilty to sexually molesting anyone. Fried said he will sentence Johnson on Jan. 31 to 1 1/2 to 3 years in prison.

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November 21, 2000 -Alton Scarbrough

A Queens man pleaded guilty yesterday to rioting charges in the attacks on women in and around Central Park after the National Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Alton Scarbrough, 22, of Rockaway Beach, admitted he was part of a group that chased terrified women near Sixth Ave. and Central Park South on June 11.

In exchange for his plea to first-degree riot, Scarbrough will be sentenced to one year in prison by Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried on Jan. 8.

Scarbrough became the sixth man to cop a plea in the incident, in which more than 50 women charged they were doused with water, groped and stripped by marauding gangs.

FEBRUARY 21, 2001 Jury selection is set to begin in the trial of four men accused in mass sexual assault incident in Central Park.

The trial is bringing back painful memories for some of the victims and two of the women made new allegations against the NYPD Tuesday. College students Ashana Cover and Josina Lewrence, among the first to come forward, say the NYPD did not fully investigate the conduct of officers who were on duty after the Puerto Rican Day Parade last June. Dozens of women told police they were sexually assaulted that day.

"The police officer basically told us that he could not leave his post and that if we wanted to file a complaint we would have to go to Madison Avenue, which was on the other side of the park," said Cover. "Basically he was sending us back through the park to just file a complaint about something he could have taken care of right then and there."

The women say they returned to the park with investigators in the months following the attack but say they have received few updates on disciplinary action taken against the officers.

The police department released a statement saying, "The NYPD cannot comment on pending litigation. However, after an internal investigation was conducted resulting in 11 members of the department being disciplined, we have implemented the necessary tactical and operational changes to prevent a recurrence of any incident similar to this."

Meanwhile, another Central Park victim was honored Tuesday night by the National Organization for Women. The group presented Anne Peyton Bryant with its Susan B. Anthony award. In a tearful acceptance speech, Bryant recalled how one day in the park put her career plans on hold. "I doggedly pursued that dream until June 11, 2000," she said. "Until that day, I could never accept the reality that I could die at any moment. My relentless pursuit of 'success' did not allow room for these kinds of notions."

So far, 19 men have been indicted in connection with attacks on almost 60 women and 14 have pleaded guilty.

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NEW12

FEBRUARY 23, 2001 Roberto Camacho

Jury selection continued Friday in the trial of three men accused in last year's Central Park sex attacks.

Before things got started on Thursday, one of the defendants pleaded guilty to rioting charges. Sixteen-year-old Roberto Camacho was then sentenced to three years probation and 250 hours of community service. However, sex abuse charges against Camacho were dropped, and since he's a juvenile, his record will be cleared if he stays out of trouble.

The other three defendants, Abel Ortiz, David Garcia, and Juan Miranda, are set to be tried on sex abuse and rioting charges.

Garcia, 33, and Abel Ortiz, 24, both of The Bronx, argue they were good Samaritans who tried to help women during the chaos.

Juan Miranda, 23, of New Jersey, is charged with grabbing one woman's genitalia, but he contends it was an accidental collision.

Prosecutor Lisa DelPizzo said all three saw the attacks as "a source of amusement," and that all three are caught on videotape.

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So far, 19 men have been indicted , Ortiz, Garcia and Miranda are the only suspects who went to trial. Of the rest, 16 pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from probation to four years in prison, and 11 cases were dismissed for lack of evidence.

March 3, 2001 : Couple Testify to an Attack by a Mob in Central Park
Two French newlyweds told a jury yesterday how their New York honeymoon came to an abrupt end when they were separated and attacked by a mob while strolling through Central Park.

With the help of numerous videotapes taken during the melee, 30 men were arrested in connection with the attacks. Eleven cases were dismissed, said Barbara Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney, and 16 men pleaded guilty and got sentences ranging from community service to up to four years in jail. The remaining three, David Garcia, Abel Ortiz and Juan Miranda, went on trial yesterday.

Mr. Garcia and Mr. Ortiz are charged with multiple counts of rioting, sexual abuse and assault. Mr. Miranda is charged with one count of sexual abuse.

In their opening statements yesterday, the prosecution and defense offered sharply different interpretations of the events following the parade. Lisa DelPizzo, an assistant district attorney, said the crowd that gathered in the southern part of the park at the Avenue of the Americas had set up "an assembly line of sexual abuse." She said she planned to call 25 victims to testify during the trial, which is expected to last at least four weeks.

But lawyers for the defendants said some of the women were enjoying themselves. Edward Hamlin, the lawyer for Mr. Ortiz, said that at least at first, the crowd had been having "fairly harmless fun."He said that his client, a limousine driver from the Bronx, had arrived late to meet his wife and had "attempted to be part of the solution."

Part of the defense strategy was to debunk the idea that the crowd had been rioting. If the riot charges are sustained, Mr. Hamlin said, the defendants could be held responsible for injuries resulting from the riot.

With that apparently in mind, Frederica L. Miller, Mr. Miranda's lawyer, emphasized that there had not been a unified mob with a single goal. She added, "Young women were enjoying the water fights, at least initially."Verena C. Powell, Mr. Garcia's lawyer, said that women were throwing water on men and that some had willingly flashed their breasts.

The prosecutors countered by emphasizing the victims. Their first witnesses were the French tourists. He testified in English; she spoke through a translator. Both gave tearful accounts of how the new husband, alerted by his wife's screams, found her surrounded and stripped from the waist down.

They said that men had touched her breasts and vagina and had tried to steal her purse. Their story was buttressed by three videos of the incident. One showed her stumbling from the scene with her husband behind her, trying to conceal her nudity.

The prosecution did not try to prove that the three defendants had been among those who attacked the couple. And in the cross-examination, Ms. Powell implied that Mr. Garcia had tried to help the couple. At the end of one video, a man whose face was not visible hands the woman a shirt to help her cover up, and a voice can be heard saying, "Get up, get up." The husband conceded that a man had given them the shirt, but he said he did not know whether that man was in the courtroom.

Asked whether someone had helped her get up, his wife said, again through a translator,"Maybe they said that, but I did not understand what they were saying.","Nobody helped," the wife testified.

Thirty men were arrested after many of them were seen on videotape, police said. Sixteen men pleaded guilty, and charges against 11 were dismissed.

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MARCH 06TH, 2001 Cameramen Testify In Central Park Sex Attacks Trial

In the trial of three men accused of assaulting women after the Puerto Rican Day Parade in June, jurors viewed hours of videotapes of the Central Park sex attacks and heard testimony from several of the amateur cameramen Monday.

Defense attorneys suggested Monday that some of the cameramen may have egged the attackers on. One photographer admitted he yelled and barked like a dog at the women while looking through his viewfinder.

Four men who witnessed - and taped - dozens of women being attacked in Central Park after last year's Puerto Rican Day Parade said they did nothing to help, while a third called it "one of the best . . . I've ever been to."

"This is better than Disneyland," said Jason Ortiga, 24, as he videotaped a mob of thugs groping, stripping and mauling women June 11.

The Queens graphic designer was one of four men who taped the horrifying scene to take the stand yesterday in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial of three of the alleged attackers, David Garcia, Abel Ortiz and Juan Miranda. Their testimony was necessary to introduce the tapes into evidence. Ortiga's hourlong videotape came complete with the play-by-play commentary he was making.

"Fresh fish!" he yelled about one woman. "We got a live one!" he yelled about another. And when police arrived at the scene, he exclaimed, "It's the pigs!"

At the very end of the tape, after seeing several half-naked victims and some of the attacks, he declared the event was "one of the best Puerto Rican Day Parades I've ever been to." He said he didn't realize how bad the attacks were until he watched the videotape later. He added he tried to call police to offer them the tape, but "couldn't get through," so he sold it to NBC for $1,000.

Another cameraman, Jose Mercado, admits he continued to tape as the incident escalated. When asked outside the courtroom if he thought he should have alerted police while he was taping the attacks, Mercado responded, "It did cross my mind at the time but I felt it wasn't my duty. I felt that police should have been around and they should have done a better job in dispersing police to different areas."

Mercado made $9,000 from the videotapes he sold to at least 10 news organizations, including NY1.

Using a friend's video camera, Rudolph Pleasant also taped dozens of attacks and victims, including a French woman in New York for her honeymoon screaming frantically after her skirt and underwear had been ripped off by the groping mob.

"She was screaming, ‘Help me! Help me!' before I even got there," he said.

"But you didn't help her, did you?" asked Ortiz's lawyer, Edward Hamelin.

"No," Pleasant answered.

The fourth filmer, Ivan Henao, 33, of Queens, had the most disturbing footage, including more shots of the French honeymooner and of another woman being trapped by a mob of about 20 men in front of a gate.

He called a hot line and gave police the tape.

The parade of camera-toting cads continued in the Central Park wilding trial yesterday, with testimony by a fifth man who videotaped the attacks without helping any of the hysterical victims.

Jose Rivera, 26, of Brooklyn, told jurors he videotaped the attacks after last year's Puerto Rican Day Parade without lifting a finger off the "record" button to help the terrorized women.

Instead, he went all out to pursue the victims - his video at times shows him straying into honking traffic or clambering over a chain-link fence.

When a defense lawyer noted Rivera's lens seemed drawn to the women's chests, he protested.

"Not the breasts alone - but their buttocks, legs, feet," Rivera said.

"Did you videotape their faces?" asked the lawyer, Edward Hamlin.

"If they were attractive," Rivera answered.

Between attacks, Rivera killed time, "smoking a cigarette, drinking water," he testified. Then he sold the images to a TV station and a newspaper for $2,200.

Manhattan prosecutors had the five videotapers take the witness stand so they could enter their tapes into evidence against the three defendants on trial in Manhattan Supreme Court - the only men indicted in the June 11 attacks who are fighting the charges.

Abel Ortiz and David Garcia are charged with rioting, assault and sexual abuse. Juan Miranda is charged with sexual abuse. Sixteen other defendants have copped pleas.

But Hamlin tried to show jurors the videotapers were the real culprits - their mere presence whipping up the crowd of men who surrounded and attacked some 50 women.

Rivera said it did occur to him, as he filmed, to call the police. "It was a moral struggle," he explained. "And also there was a financial aspect to it."

Jurors also heard testimony from four more victims, ages 18, 15 and 20, who described being doused with water as mobs of men ripped at their clothes and groped their breasts and genitalia.

"I couldn't escape," said a Long Island woman, one of 25 victims on the DA witness list. "There were so many men grabbing at me."

New York, April 3 David Garcia , Abel Ortiz , Juan Miranda

The three men were among 30 charged in connection with attacks on more than 50 women after the June 11 parade. Anonymous amateur cameramen filmed the attacks, in which groups of men are seen dousing women with water, pulling off their clothes and groping them.

After five days of deliberations, a jury of four men and eight women found David Garcia, 33, and Abel Ortiz, 24, guilty on various riot and assault charges. Garcia was convicted on 15 of the 16 counts against him, one of them a first-degree sex abuse count.

Ortiz was convicted on 14 of 18 counts against him. He was acquitted on three sex abuse counts and the jury declared itself deadlocked on a fourth sex abuse count against him.

"Let this stand as an example to young men all over our nation that men cannot sexually touch women without consent, and if they do, they will suffer the consequences criminally," said Sanford A.

Rubenstein, an attorney for two of the female victims.

Garcia and Ortiz, both of the Bronx, face up to 7 years in prison on each of the riot and assault charges when they are sentenced on April 30.

Mr. Miranda, who had been accused of groping a woman's crotch, left the courthouse free to return to his job as a network operator. He had been placed on leave without pay,"I'm going back to work. I'm not going back to the Puerto Rican Day Parade,"

In a rare post-verdict comment, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said: "This is a very significant conviction. We hope the sentences will send a clear message that there is not safety in numbers."

As they left the courthouse, jurors did not stop to speak with reporters, but one juror said the video tapes, at least five of which showed the three defendants, had been important in arriving at a verdict. Another juror said it had been a "tough" deliberation and a third called it "a sad case."

Ortiz, Garcia and Miranda are the only suspects who went to trial. Of the rest, 16 pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from probation to four years in prison, and 11 cases were dismissed for lack of evidence.

Edward Hamlin, Ortiz's lawyer, said video showing his client cheering, pointing and shouting, "Here, here," was meant to distract the men from a woman who was under attack. Ortiz was easily identifiable by tattoos on his upper body.

"He did nothing tumultuous or violent and the women who were assaulted were assaulted after he left," Hamlin said. The attorney said he was gratified that Ortiz was acquitted on the sex abuse counts against him and said he planned to appeal.

Verena Powell, a lawyer for Garcia, also said she would appeal.

The defense argued that the defendants tried to help victims, or that that they just stood around, while some women happily joined in the hijinks. They also contended that some women exaggerated their testimony to try to bolster lawsuits.

At least 10 women who say they were attacked in the post-parade tumult have sued the city for millions of dollars, claiming that dozens of police officers ignored their pleas for help during the attacks.

Prosecutors called a total of 35 witness, 22 of them women. Some of the most dramatic testimony came from two European women, one from France and the other from England, who gave tearful, terrifying accounts of sex abuse, assault and robbery at the hands of men in roving mobs.

The 29-year-old French woman, in New York on her honeymoon, said she was doused with water and shoved to the ground while dozens of male hands ripped off her clothes, and groped and poked her breasts, buttocks and genitals.

The English woman, a 19-year-old university student, said she was surrounded twice and punched, poked and fondled by two separate gangs. She said a man smashed her face with a closed fist, knocking her to one knee.

The assaults left bruises on her face, thighs and right ankle, and she was bruised and scratched inside her private parts, she said. Her purse was snatched, but when she saw one of the park riot suspects carrying it later, the man who had rescued her from the horde got it back for her, she said.

State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried agreed to hear the jury's verdict on 34 of the 35 counts before it at about 5 p.m. Monday, after determining that members were deadlocked on just one count.

THE TRIAL by NEW YORK TIMES :
If NewYork DailyNew and NYpost has been compassionate with the victimes ,
NOT the NEW YORK TIMES

--> A coverage of trial incredibily favourable for the attackers. By SHAILA K. DEWAN

Man (david Garcia) in Attacks on 7 Women in Central Park Gets 2 1/2 Years

In an on-camera interview with Fox5 reporter, Bob O'Brien, one of the victims, Ann Peyton Bryant, related that the assistant district attorney had recommended a sentence of at least five years for each of the men. Notified that Garcia, and possibly Ortiz, would end up serving less than five years in jail, Bryant said that that would not be acceptable to her.

A man convicted of being part of a riotous mob and attacking seven women in Central Park last summer was sentenced yesterday to a minimum of two and a half years in prison for his role in the assaults, which followed the National Puerto Rican Day Parade.

The man, David Garcia, 33, begged a Manhattan judge for mercy, denying that he ever attacked or assaulted any of the victims. He acknowledged pouring water on the women amid a crowd of rowdy men who tore at their clothes and groped them.

"I know my conduct was inappropriate," he said. "I have sisters. I have daughters, and I can understand how the victims feel." But he added: "I didn't grope anyone. I didn't touch anyone. I didn't take any cheap shots."

Calling Mr. Garcia an active participant in the "frightening mob behavior" that occurred last June 11, Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal asked Justice Bernard J. Fried of State Supreme Court in Manhattan to impose at least a five- year sentence.

Instead, Justice Fried sentenced Mr. Garcia to one and a third to four years for each of seven counts of rioting and two and a half years for each of seven counts of assault and one count of sexual abuse. The sentences are to be served concurrently. "We do not tolerate conduct of the kind that occurred in Central Park," Justice Fried said.

Of the men arrested in the attacks, 30 were indicted, 16 pleaded guilty, 3 went to trial and 2, Mr. Garcia and Abel Ortiz, 24, were convicted. One was acquitted. Charges against 11 of those arrested were dismissed.

Twenty-two women testified at trial that they had been beaten, dragged, groped and penetrated vaginally and anally with their attackers' fingers. Though few identified the defendants as their attackers, Mr. Garcia and Mr. Ortiz, both of the Bronx, were held responsible for the actions of the mob they were part of.

Mr. Ortiz's sentencing was postponed to May 11.

Mr. ORTIZ is Sentenced to 5 Years in Attacks in Central Park

he last man convicted of attacking women in Central Park last summer after the National Puerto Rican Day Parade was sentenced to five years yesterday, the longest prison term resulting from the melee.

The man, Abel Ortiz, 24, of the Bronx, was captured on videotape amid a crowd of rowdy, shirtless men who groped, stripped and sexually abused seven women.

Overall, 50 women were attacked by the riotous mob and 20 testified at the trial of Mr. Ortiz and two other defendants; one was acquitted and the other was sentenced to a minimum of two-and-a-half years in prison, bringing the total number of men convicted to 18.

In a statement before sentencing, Mr. Ortiz insisted again yesterday that he had not joined the mob and that he had been trying to help the women shown in the videotape by creating a distraction so that they could escape. But in some footage shown to the jury, Mr. Ortiz appeared to be ushering men toward potential victims.

Justice Bernard J. Fried of State Supreme Court in Manhattan was not swayed by Mr. Ortiz's argument. "The video shows your participation, directing men to where the women were," Justice Fried said. "This was like a human fire burning out of control. You fueled the riot and kept it going."

He then sentenced Mr. Ortiz to five years for his conviction on seven counts of riot and seven counts of assault.

Speaking before the sentence was imposed, the assistant district attorney, Lisa Delpizzo, said that Mr. Ortiz's arrogance and refusal to accept blame should earn him a stiff sentence.

"He portrayed himself as helping," she said.

During the trial, Mr. Ortiz told his lawyer, Edward Hamlin, under direct questioning that he had tried to restrain the men. He said that in one moment seen on videotape, he was holding down a man's hand in an attempt to restrain him.

Another image from the videotape depicted Mr. Ortiz from the back with his shirt off and hands thrust in the air, appearing to join in the melee. But Mr. Ortiz said that he was trying to create a distraction so that one woman could flee the crowd.

After being sentenced, Mr. Ortiz looked back at his friends and family and shook his head before being led away by court officers.

Central Park Mob Victim Identifies Officer She Says Didn't Help

A woman who was sexually assaulted in Central Park after last year's National Puerto Rican Day Parade took the stand yesterday at a Police Department disciplinary trial to identify the officer who she said ignored her pleas for help after she was molested by rampaging men.

But minutes later, the woman, Anne Peyton Bryant, admitted during cross-examination that she had originally told investigators she did not think she could positively identify the officer because "all police officers look alike."

Marvyn Kornberg, the lawyer for the officer, Victor Rodriguez-Rivera, focused on that statement in an effort to undermine the testimony of Ms. Bryant, who has accused an officer on a scooter of doing nothing to help her on June 11 after men doused her with beer, groped her and tried to pull her shorts down as she skated through the park.

Police officials have identified Officer Rodriguez-Rivera, 36, as the policeman who went to the aid of a French tourist and placed her in his scooter after she was stripped naked by the crowd. Mr. Kornberg said it was inconceivable that the apathetic officer described by Ms. Bryant could be the same man. And he said that Officer Rodriguez-Rivera had good reason to be vigilant that day: his 17-year-old daughter was among the women at the parade.

During an hour of questioning riddled with interruptions and bickering, Mr. Kornberg repeatedly attacked the accuracy of Ms. Bryant's identification. He said that before yesterday, she had told investigators that her recollection was too fuzzy to select anyone from a lineup, and that when pressed to make some kind of identification from photographs, she had picked out several other officers, but not Officer Rodriguez-Rivera.

Ms. Bryant explained her unwillingness to view a lineup as evidence of her concern about identifying the right officer. She said that yesterday, when she arrived in the courtroom for the first day of Officer Rodriguez- Rivera's trial, something clicked and she recognized him as the officer on the scooter.

Investigators said they had charged Officer Rodriguez-Rivera after determining he was the only officer on a scooter who was in the vicinity at the time of the attack. They are seeking to strip him of 30 vacation days.

Police officials have cited 11 other officers for disciplinary infractions or serious mistakes in the aftermath of the parade, during which dozens of women were molested in a section of Central Park just off 59th Street. Of those officers, four received letters of reprimand, two retired, one received an unspecified discipline from his commander, charges against one were dropped, two lost several weeks of vacation days and one is awaiting trial.

Yesterday afternoon, a friend who was with Ms. Bryant on the day of the parade recounted the difficulty they had had persuading an officer they encountered to respond, although he said he could not positively identify the officer.

But Ms. Bryant, a fitness instructor from Manhattan, said she was sure it was Officer Rodriguez-Rivera. She said she told him that she had been attacked and that someone else was likely to get hurt unless he acted. His response, she said, was to resume his slow movement down the street, without making any effort to enter the park or summon help.

"I started crying, `He's not going to do anything,' " Ms. Bryant said.

Ms. Bryant has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the city, alleging that the police failed to protect her and the other women or to respond adequately to the reports of assaults. Mr. Kornberg mentioned the suit several times as he tried to portray Ms. Bryant as a publicity seeker whose suit would be greatly helped by a misconduct finding. Repeatedly during his cross-examination, he complained that she was unwilling to give short answers, while she complained that he was interrupting her. At one point, Ms. Bryant stood up from the witness chair and threatened to leave.

"I would very much like to not be insulted by Mr. Kornberg during my testimony," she said.

The trial judge, Assistant Deputy Commissioner Robert Vinal, restored order, but not easily.

"This is not her show," Mr. Kornberg told Mr. Vinal at one point.

"It's not yours, either," Mr. Vinal responded.

At the conclusion of the five-day trial, Mr. Vinal will make a finding that will be forwarded to Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik, who will have the final say on what, if any, discipline the officer will face.

Judge Hits 2 Cops
Two cops accused of ignoring pleas for help from women who were sexually assaulted after last year's National Puerto Rican Day Parade have been found guilty by an NYPD trial judge.
Officer Victor Rodriguez-Rivera should be docked 15 days' pay and Officer Michael Bonefant should lose 30 days' pay for misconduct, according to the decision by Assistant Trial Commissioner Robert Vinal.The decision came just days before Sunday's parade, in which thousands of cops will be deployed on rooftops, along the parade route and in Central Park to prevent a repeat of last year's wilding spree.

Marvyn Kornberg, the attorney for Rodriguez-Rivera, called the decision "an utter disgrace" and said the timing was no coincidence."It's obvious that they took an innocent police officer and found him guilty to send a message to the police officers who are going to be patrolling the parade," Kornberg said.

Rodriguez-Rivera was charged with failing to take action when victim Anne Peyton Bryant reported that she was molested in Central Park.But Rodriguez-Rivera is facing a lighter penalty than Bonefant because he later helped a French tourist who was attacked in the park."His rendering of proper assistance [to the tourist] should serve to partially mitigate his penalty," Vinal wrote.

Bryant's attorney, Sue Karten, who has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the city, was dissatisfied with the decision."I think it's a meaningless penalty," Karten said. "I would rather see the police commissioner order the officers to undergo training on how to respond to women who are victims of sexual attacks."

Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik will review the findings next week and has the final say on the cases.Of the five additional cops slapped with disciplinary charges last year, two retired, two pleaded guilty and the charges were dropped against another. Four NYPD supervisors received letters of reprimand.

Bonefant's attorney, Stephen Worth, declined to comment.