Remember the video showing a surfer dude punching another guy in Hell's Kitchen from last summer? Well, it seems that the Manhattan DA's office didn't feel the case against him was so clear-cut.
At a hearing yesterday morning, prosecutors moved to dismiss the case against Corey Pohan, 32, because they decided it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The incident occurred on July 8th when Paul Martone was walking his dog at the corner of West 55th Street and 9th Avenue. Police said Pohan "punched the victim in the face with a closed fist causing the victim to fall to the ground. The victim struck his head on the pavement and sustained a serious head injury."
It later emerged that Martone and Pohan had been arguing about Martone's dog. From the Post:
[Pohan] committed the faux pas of walking over the pooch instead of around him. Martone, with his stocky boyfriend standing nearby, yelled at the man — who tried to walk away.
“The suspect was trying to remove himself from the situation, and walk away,” according to one law enforcement source. But Martone would not relent, egging on the victim with the taunt, “Why don’t you throw the first punch?”
The suspect took the bait and landed a vicious right hook into Martone’s chin — and walked off as Martone fell backward and cracked his head on the sidewalk.
Martone suffered serious brain injuries.
Pohan's mother defended her son's role in the incident, "He was pushed and shoved. He was acting in self defense." The DA's office would not comment on the case's dismissal.
When the NYPD apprehended Pohan in NJ, Pohan ran out of the car while it was on the highway and climbed on top of a toll plaza in Secaucus. He pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing in that incident.
