The Manhattan DA has dismissed all charges against a male model accused of punching a stranger who later died on a Penn Station train platform after learning that the victim was the aggressor, officials said Friday.
Video surveillance recovered from Penn Station following the March 14 clash showed that after Nassadir Tate accidentally bumped into 55-year-old Eweka Johnson at an E train platform, the older man flew into a rage.
He shoved Tate, 21, blocked the younger man’s path during the 7 p.m. confrontation, then pulled off his jacket, threw it to the ground and raised his hands up in a fighting stance, prosecutors said during a court hearing in lower Manhattan Thursday, describing what the video footage shows.
Tate, an aspiring model, punched Johnson once in the face and walked off. Johnson fell onto the platform and later died from a brain aneurysm, prosecutors said.
Cops quickly caught up with Tate and charged him with misdemeanor assault.
But at Thursday’s court appearance, prosecutors withdrew the charge, claiming they “cannot disprove the defense of justification beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The decision came after a “lengthy investigation, which included a thorough review of video surveillance, interviews with witnesses, examination of the autopsy report, and a review of the defendant’s Mirandized statement,” prosecutors said.
After Tate punched him once in the face and walked off, Johnson remained standing on the platform. About two minutes later, video surveillance shows him on the phone when his “knees buckled, and he fell to the floor,” prosecutors said.
Tate, who is from Hillside Township, N.J., was nowhere near Johnson when he fell.
Johnson’s last call was to 911, prosecutors said. He died at Lenox Hill Hospital.
When Tate was interviewed by police, he said he punched Johnson because he feared for his safety.
“(Johnson) was close to the edge of the platform, and blocked his path and took his jacket off, which (Tate) believed to be to fight him,” prosecutors said.
Tate didn’t know Johnson had died when cops took him into custody.
When he was arrested, Tate was given a desk appearance ticket and sent home, cops said.
He wrote about the incident on Instagram.
“Bruh I had a f—ing day … So the n***a I punched died bruh,” Tate wrote the day he was charged. “No I was not the reason of his death.”
The suspect’s father, Nassua Tate, told the Daily News that his son was not an aggressive person and acted in self-defense.
“Nassadir is an absolute really gentle kid,” the father said at the time of his arrest. “Nassadir is a non-confrontational person. He’s actually a person who shies away from any type of violence.”
“There’s nothing in his character or his history that reflects anything that is aggressive or violent,” the father added.
Nassadir’s Instagram is filled with modeling photos, including a black-and-white series of him in a black cowboy hat, black singlet and black jeans. He does not have a criminal record, police said.
“This is not something that was instigated by Nassadir,” Nassua said. “This was a case of him defending himself against somebody who was an aggressor towards him.”
“This was something that was brought on by unfortunately the fella who is no longer with us,” the father said.