A live performance pianist mentioned he was violently assaulted in Manhattan over the summer season, and claims the district legal professional’s workplace refused to deliver felony expenses towards his alleged attacker.
Graphic surveillance video confirmed the assault on 53-year-old Derek Wieland, a live performance pianist, in July 2024 on the Higher West Facet following a verbal dispute.
”I used to be attacked from behind abruptly. Very violently,” Wieland told NBC New York in an exclusive interview. “The affect of the sidewalk had an enormous quantity of power, after which he pinned me down and began punching me repeatedly…He was not in a position to get hits on my face, so he pulled my arm again — tearing my rotator cuff. And [he] landed different punches.”
Police would cost 21-year-old Emerson Ionita, the son of a good friend of Wieland’s with misdemeanor expenses. The skilled musician was left shocked Ionita wouldn’t face felony expenses.
“I feel the attack was deliberate,” he mentioned.
Wieland says the after he known as 911, there was a second assault by Ionita a number of minutes later, one he known as “notably brutal.
Regardless that he mentioned he by no means fought again, Wieland was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault. He was handcuffed for a few hours on the twenty fourth precinct earlier than being taken to the hospital, the place he stayed for eight days.
“I’ll never regain the use of my right shoulder. The tendons are damaged. There was multiple damage to the skull,” mentioned Wieland.
The legal expenses towards Wieland had been finally dismissed, however he says he needed to pay 1000’s of {dollars} for a protection legal professional. He was out of labor for months, and mentioned he solely just lately has been in a position to play the piano once more.
Ionita’s legal professional advised NBC New York that the video doesn’t inform the entire story, including that Wieland’s group “tried to shake this kid down and were willing to drop the case” — one thing the musician denies.
“I think a violation is something that doesn’t appear on your record, and for a victim of violence, that’s another trauma,” mentioned Wieland. “It says what happened to me is trivial. What happened to me doesn’t matter.”
Because of the dearth of expenses filed towards his alleged attacker, Wieland mentioned of the Manhattan DA’s workplace that “anyone dwelling in NYC proper now would have a proper to be enormously annoyed, enormously offended, virtually hopeless what might be executed for you… I imagine in NYC you might be unheard.”
The Manhattan DA’s workplace advised NBC New York partly that they carried out a cautious and thorough investigation and there wasn’t sufficient proof to deliver a felony assault case. They added the incident was not a random assault, and the defendant is a 21-year-old pupil with no legal report and “any conclusion to this case will consider all of those details.”
