A Manhattan judge on Thursday dismissed the criminal case against a New Jersey man accused by law enforcement of fatally punching a stranger at Penn Station.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office charged Nassadir Tate, 22, with third-degree assault in Eweka Johnson's death on March 14. Prosecutors said Tate punched Johnson one time in the face after a brief verbal argument on the uptown E train platform. Johnson died shortly after.
Prosecutors asked a judge to drop the charge against Tate after reviewing video surveillance, interviewing witnesses, examining an autopsy report and reviewing the defendant’s statement to police. They said they could not disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that Tate’s actions were justified.
“Mr. Tate was faced with a very, very dangerous situation in which he was almost shoved onto the subway tracks without provocation,” Tate’s defense attorney Wayne Gosnell said in a phone call. “He defended himself like anyone else would under the circumstances. He was completely justified in his actions.”
Security footage shows Tate bumping into Johnson as they walked past each other on the subway platform, according to the DA’s office. Johnson then pushed Tate, and the two started to argue. When Tate tried to walk around Johnson, Johnson blocked his path, threw his own jacket to the ground and raised his hands as if preparing to fight, prosecutors said. That’s when the DA’s office said Tate threw a single punch at his face.
According to prosecutors, Johnson remained upright after he was punched and pulled out his phone to call 911. But about two minutes later, after Tate had already walked away, Johnson’s knees buckled and he fell to the floor, the DA’s office said. First responders took Johnson to Lenox Hill Hospital, where he was pronounced dead that evening. An autopsy determined the official cause of death as a ruptured cerebral artery aneurysm following the punch to his face.
In an interview with police, Tate admitted to punching Johnson, according to prosecutors. He said he was afraid for his safety, because Johnson was close to the edge of the subway platform and looked like he was preparing to fight. Tate didn’t learn Johnson had died until his interview with law enforcement, according to the DA’s office.
New York law allows criminal defendants accused of violence to argue that their actions were justified. To do so, they have to establish that they reasonably believed it was necessary to protect them from someone else using physical force against them. They also have to establish that they weren’t the initial aggressor, or they tried to retreat from the situation.
The DA’s office said Tate likely could have established at trial that his actions were justified, and that video surveillance largely corroborates his account of what happened.
