Gets 18 Years For L.I.C. Attack
A Howard Beach man convicted last fall of taking part in the brutal gang assault of an off-duty police officer during a traffic dispute in Long Island City in August 2009 is spending the next 18 years behind bars, law enforcement sources announced.
Joseph J. Meyer, 26, a construction worker from 78th Street in Howard Beach, was sentenced to the determinate prison term last Friday, Jan. 20, by Acting Supreme Court Justice Joseph Zayas.
Meyer was convicted in November 2011 of first-degree gang assault and first-degree assault following a six-day jury trial for joining several unidentified and unapprehended individuals in beating up off-duty P.O. Damien Bartels early on the morning of Aug. 30, 2009 at a Long Island City intersection. Reportedly, the altercation was the result of a verbal argument.
Bartels suffered a broken nose, two broken eye sockets, a broken jaw and shifted teeth during the attack; the injuries required facial reconstruction surgery, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
“[Meyer] viciously attacked and seriously injured an off-duty officer, his actions sparked by words uttered at a traffic incident,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “The crimes for which he was justly convicted are serious ones and, under the circumstances, the lengthy prison sentence imposed is warranted.”
According to trial testimony, Bartels was driving a 2009 black Lincoln MKS sedan with his girlfriend and a cousin early on the morning of Aug. 30, 2009, when he stopped at an intersection where Meyer and several others were standing outside vehicles on the streets.
Bartels’ cousin rolled down a window and yelled at the group after none of the vehicles moved once the light turned green, law enforcement sources said. This led to a verbal exchange between the victim’s cousin and members of the group.
Seconds later, Bartels maneuvered his car around the group and their stopped vehicles and drove away. Upon reaching the intersection of 30th Street and 48th Avenue a block away, police said, his vehicle was boxed in by several other automobiles; it was later determined that two of those vehicles had been stopped at the previous intersection.
Prosecutors said Bartels exited his vehicle and locked his girlfriend and his cousin in their car to protect them from trouble. After telling the individuals that he wanted no trouble, it was reported, members of the group struck Bartels in the head and knocked him to the ground.
Meyer and several other unapprehended suspects continued pummeling the officer after he fell, then fled a short time later.
The suspect was reportedly linked to the incident through a fingerprint found on Bartels’ vehicle following the attack which was lifted by police. In statements made to investigators, Meyer admitted his involvement in the beating.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Christine M. Oliveri of the D.A.’s Kew Gardens II Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Daniel M. Sullivan, bureau chief, and Jennifer L. Naiburg, deputy bureau chief.
