Fishtown man held for trial in racial beating
A Fishtown man was held for trial yesterday on assault and ethnic-intimidation charges, accused of being among a group of seven white men who beat and shouted racial insults at two black men in Old City.
A Fishtown man was held for trial yesterday on assault and ethnic-intimidation charges, accused of being among a group of seven white men who beat and shouted racial insults at two black men in Old City.
Municipal Court Judge Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde ruled there was enough evidence for the case against Richard D. Lyons, 25, to proceed to trial.
Lyons' codefendant, James Cummings, 27, also of Fishtown, was not at the preliminary hearing at the Criminal Justice Center in Center City. Frazier-Lyde issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
The victims, Levi Lee and Bryson Mills, both 22 and from North Philadelphia, testified at the hearing that they had been set upon by a group of white males at 2:15 a.m. Aug. 15 after they left an Old City nightclub.
Lee said he and Mills were at Third and Market Streets, looking for a taxi to take them home, when Mills spotted a group of white males chasing a lone black male west on Market Street.
Lee testified that some members of the group apparently noticed them watching. They shouted racial epithets, asking: "You want some of this, too?"
Lee said seven men began the assault, three jumping him and four going after Mills. Both were beaten, kicked, and struck with wooden four-by-fours from a nearby trash pile, Lee and Mills said.
After about 10 minutes, Lee said, police arrived and their assailants scattered.
Neither Mills nor Lee identified Lyons as an assailant. Both testified they were too busy curling up to try to protect themselves from blows.
Lyons was identified by a third witness presented by Assistant District Attorney Allyson Busch: a bystander named Adam Ankrah.
Ankrah said he had just left a club and was walking home when he "heard confusion and a lot of noise" and came upon the assault on the two men.
Ankrah, who is also African American, testified that he watched from across the street, waiting for police: "It was very frightening. . . . I didn't want to get involved."
As police arrived, Ankrah said, most of the assailants fled east on Market. Two, however, ran north on Third Street. Ankrah said he told police about the pair, one of whom Ankrah said he recognized as Lyons because it was the same man he saw sitting astride the chest of one victim and punching him.
In questioning the three witnesses, defense attorney David Conroy focused on how much they drank before the incident and whether Lee and Mills did anything to initiate the assault.
Lee said he had one beer that night and Mills, three rum-and-Cokes; both denied doing anything to start the fight.
Ankrah said he had nothing alcoholic to drink that night.
