Key witness that intervened in West Side biker melee testifies

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A key witness in the brutal biker road rage attack in Manhattan took the stand Thursday.

He was the first person to come to the aid of Alexian Lien.

He changed jobs in fear of his life, but felt it was his destiny that Lien was praying for help and God sent him.

"You don't feel right that people might go to jail, but I had to do my duty, comply with the law," said Sergio Consuegra, an eyewitness.

Consuegra was so crucial to the investigation into the beating of Lien, the NYPD had to circulate flyers of him to track him down.

"What stands out most in my mind? Well, the blood, the roaring of the motorcycle," Consuegra said.

Eyewitness News spoke with Consuegra back in September 2013, just a few days after the melee.

"I said hey guys, let it go. That's it!" Consuegra said.

That's exactly the story Consuegra recounted in a Lower Manhattan courtroom Thursday morning.

"I just opened my arms to protect the man. Somehow I got them to stop. I spoke in a strong tone," Consuegra said.

The then 51-year-old was the only one to intervene and later learned an undercover NYPD detective was there the whole time.

"When I did find out I felt pretty bad about it, I tell you, oh wow, I had the help right there, he could have done the right thing," Consuegra said.

Also on Thursday, the court heard testimony from a co-worker of Robert Sims who testified that Sims pointed himself out in a picture on the front page of the newspaper to a group of coworkers that following Monday.

"He said that's me," the coworker said. "He said he may have to leave early that day to talk to reporters to tell his side of the story."

The defendants decided to have a judge, not a jury, determine the outcome. Eleven men were indicted after the melee; the others have pleaded guilty to charges including assault and riot and face sentences of probation to two years in prison. Some of the road encounters were caught on video and posted online.

Lien was not charged. The biker Lien hit, Edwin Mieses, was paralyzed.