Cops drop charges and apologize to boy, 15, they accused of being part of mob that attacked BMW on NYC's Fifth Avenue after receipt proved he was at a mall buying his mom a birthday present
A teenager who was accused of being involved in a bike mob that attacked a BMW in Manhattan has had charges against him dropped after he produced a receipt showing he was out shopping for his mom's birthday present at the time.
Geovanni Valle, 15, was accused of being involved in the wild attack that took place in New York City, when cyclists surrounded and attacked both a BMW and a taxi in the middle of the day on Tuesday afternoon.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison went to Valle's home in Corona, Queens to personally apologize for arresting the 15-year-old, the New York Post reports.
Shocking video footage shows the cyclists smashing one of the vehicles with their bikes, and jumping on the windshield leaving the 36-year-old driver and his mom fearing for their lives.
Valle was accused of being involved and arrested on Wednesday.
But the NYPD have now dropped all charges against him, after he produced a receipt showing he was at the Queens Center Mall buying a birthday gift for his mother at the same time of the attacks, the Post reports.
Valle also claimed he does not own a bike.
After verifying his alibi, the NYPD dropped the charges against Valle and released him from a juvenile detention center.
Oscar Valle, Geovanni Valle's father, shows off the receipt that proves Geovanni's alibi
After releasing Vanni, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison apologized to the family
Valle's parents did not show the receipt to investigators on Wednesday after the arrest, though it's unclear why.
Valle then proceeded to show the media a shopping receipt on Thursday, which is the first time the NYPD claims they became aware of an alibi for the teen.
Valle says he showed the receipt to officers previously, which placed him at Footaction store at 3:49pm, but that it was disregarded, as others had already implicated the teen.
Video grabs show the moment teens attacked a BMW on Manhattan's East Side
The teenagers terrified the BMW driver and its occupants before fleeing on their bikes
'I think it’s bulls–t,' Valle said to The Post on Thursday about his charges. 'I wasn’t even there!'
'It’s crazy! I know people don’t have no life, they just do stuff like that,' Valle said about the bike attacks. 'I was watching it on Instagram. I didn’t think it was going to come back on me!'
Valle's father, Oscar, said: 'I feel depressed seeing my kid put in handcuffs, treated like a criminal.'
It's not clear if Valle and his family will pursue legal action against the NYPD for the false arrest.
'The NYPD is falsely accusing my brother of a crime he did not commit. They are basically just saying he is guilty without providing any proof. What happened to [being]innocent until proven guilty?,' Christian Valle, Geovanni's brother, told DailyMail.com on Thursday.
At one point in the attack, a biker even started jumping on the BMW's windshield
Prior to the BMW attack, the teenagers also attacked a taxi cab a few blocks north
'After that, he went to Empanadas Cafe on 108th St from 4.38 to 5.17pm,' Christian explained about the aftermath of the shopping trip.
The shocking bike attacks at the end of 2020 have gripped New York City this week.
A BMW driver and taxi cab driver were both attacked on Fifth Avenue, with the cab being on 29th Street and the BMW at 21st Street on Manhattan's East Side.
Max Torgovnick, 36, was driving the BMW with his mom in the car when they were surrounded by the biking teens.
They had just dropped off a holiday donation to a local charity when the bikers came around.
The shocking video shows several of the teenagers punching the BMW's windows with others stomping on the hood of the car.
One person even smashed in the front window as the fellow teenagers cheered the damage to the car.
Pictured: One of the teens who are wanted by the NYPD for criminal mischief
Pictured: More teenagers wanted in connection for the bike attacks on Tuesday
The teenagers reportedly laughed and cheered as the BMW was getting smashed in
One witness said teenagers tried to get into the car and broke a handle, with another spitting on the vehicle.
Torgovnick dialed 911 after the police didn't come on to the scene during the attack, but the teens were gone by the time the cops arrived.
Torgovnick's mother was reportedly badly shaken by the attack.
'We were trapped, there was so much violence, I thought I was going to die,' she reportedly said.
'That's something like you would see on the streets of a war zone. I never thought New York would get this bad,' Torgovnick, a long-time NYC resident, told The Post. 'I was afraid that they were going to break the window, get in the car, reach in, and pull us out.
'My only thoughts at that moment were self-defense, [that] I wanted to protect my mother and I also didn't want to hurt anyone.'
Pictured: Christian Valle (L) and Oscar Valle (R), the brother and father of Geovanni Valle
The kids on the bikes surrounded the BMW, which had medical license plates, before attacking
The teenagers also managed to block traffic with their bikes during the attack
Violent crime remains an issue in New York City.
In the 28 days prior to December 27, there were 21 murders, an increase of 61.5 percent when compared with the same dates in 2019.
There was also a 4.2 percent increase in rapes and a 122.4 percent surge in shootings, as the NYPD faces a $1 billion cut to their budget.
Mayor Bill de Blasio told CBS on Thursday that the attack was 'absolutely unacceptable,' but didn't provide concrete plans on how to attack another similar attack down the road.
While they released Valle on Friday, the NYPD did arrest a 17-year-old male in connection with the bike rampage. He was charged with criminal mischief and rioting.
More arrests are expected to be made, but identifying those involved in the attack has been challenging.
The NYPD is said to be looking for at least five more teens in connection with the attack.
There were around 25 cyclists involved in each attack on Tuesday.
