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Courtesy of Allred, Maroko & Gol
Edwin "Jay" Mieses, after he was run over by an SUV that police say was being attacked by bikers last Sunday
By Richard Esposito and Tracy Connor, NBC News
An undercover New York police officer was on the scene when a pack of angry motorcycle riders chased down and beat a Range Rover driver in front of his wife and toddler, two law enforcement officials said Friday.
The unidentified cop came forward four days after the harrowing incident ? which was captured on camera and became a viral video that has gotten millions of hits ? and Internal Affairs is investigating.
There is no evidence the officer took part in the assault on driver Alexian Lien, but he also did not assist the victim or call 911, one source said.
The probe of the officer is the latest fallout following Sunday's confrontation, which left one motorcyclist with a crushed spine, another facing charges, and police trying to identify more than a dozen bikers who were involved.
It started when riders gathered for an unauthorized daredevil rally swarmed around Lien's Range Rover on the West Side Highway in New York, resulting in a fender bender.
As some bikers attacked the SUV, Lien sped off, running down a rider who was standing in front of him. After a 50-block chase, the group cornered Lien, smashed in his window with their helmets and beat him, police said.
Gloria Allred, attorney for injured motorcyclist Edwin Mieses, Jr. tells reporters that Mr. Mieses was trying to help the driver of the SUV diffuse the situation, when he was run over.
The rider who was run over, Edwin "Jay" Mieses, was portrayed Friday as an "innocent victim" who was trying to calm tempers and disperse the crowd after the fender bender.
"His sole intention was to defuse the situation," said his family's new high-profile lawyer, Gloria Allred.
At a Manhattan news conference, Allred said Mieses, 32, had his back to the Range Rover and was trying to get fellow bikers to walk away when he was struck "at top speed."
"Watch that huge vehicle, SUV, blast off, and watch it as it is lifted several feet off the ground as it rolls over Edwin Mieses," she said of the video of the incident, which has gotten millions of hits on YouTube.
Allred said she was not justifying the subsequent assault on Lien.
"Edwin Mieses and his family deplore what happened to the driver of the SUV," she said.
"However, let us not lose sight of the fact that Mr. Mieses had done nothing to Mr. Lien," she added. "We don't think our client should have been run over and crushed."
Allred said the family has not decided whether to sue Lien, 33, and is cooperating with the Manhattan District Attorney's office as it investigates the incident.
Related: Dangerous new breed of biker gang seeks Internet glory
Lien's wife, Rosalyn Ng, released a statement Thursday expressing sympathy for Mieses but saying her husband had no choice but to flee the bikers because it was a "life-threatening situation."
"Our fear for our lives was confirmed when the incident ended with the ruthless and brutal attack on my husband, me, and, most importantly, our two-year-old child," Ng said.
Deliliah Domenech
Edwin "Jay" Mieses may be paralyzed after being hit during a clash between bikers and an SUV on the West Side Highway.
Neither Lien nor Mieses have been charged with a crime, and police are still seeking more than a dozen people involved in the incident.
One biker has been arrested -- the rider involved in the minor collision that triggered the confrontation.
Christopher Cruz was?charged with reckless driving and unlawful imprisonment for slowing down in front of Lien's Range Rover as the pack roared down West Side Highway.
When Lien clipped Cruz's back tire, other bikers stopped and some began attacking the SUV with their helmets and slashing its tires, police said.
That's when Lien sped away, hitting Mieses, who suffered a broken spine, torn aortic valve and punctured lung.
?Doctors have indicated they do not know whether or not he will ever walk again,? Allred said. "It's a miracle he survived. He faces a very uncertain future."
The bikers were taking part in a loosely organized unauthorized rally dubbed Hollywood Stuntz, police said. Mieses, an aspiring rapper from Lawrence, Mass., only knew one other rider, said his longtime partner, who defended the two-wheelers.
"They are not gang members. They are not thugs," Dayana Mejia said, tearfully describing her husband as a devoted father of two.
Allred deflected questions about her new client's driving record: he was named a habitual traffic offender in June and his right to drive was revoked until 2017; he does not have a motorcycle license, records show.
She said it was "irrelevant" because even though he drove to and participated in the rally, he was off his bike at the time he was run over. She also upbraided the public for "prejudice" against bikers.
She said the family was seeking justice but when asked what form that would take, she replied, "We'll see."
Mieses' father, a Pennsylvania pastor, said he felt "no anger" toward anyone, including Lien.
"The driver of the SUV is going to eventually have to face what he did," he said.
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This story was originally published on Fri Oct 4, 2013 5:47 PM EDT
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Today, car buyers know how bad the 2014 Toyota Corolla fared in a frontal collision. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety scored the redesigned compact as ?marginal? and went on to describe the body structure as ?poor? and its cabin ?seriously compromised? from the impact. Tomorrow, those same car buyers will continue making the Corolla the world?s best-selling car of all time.
That?s the power of the Toyota name, a brand seemingly invincible to any forces that conspire against its global success. It?s a feeling reflected in the ?Best Global Brands? study by Interbrand, a New York?based ad agency that ranks 100 of what it considers to be the strongest names in business. Among automakers, Toyota was number one, just as it was the best-selling automaker worldwide last year, a spot it continually jockeys with General Motors.
While automotive lists such as Interbrand?s sound special, they don?t tell us anything meaningful that Toyota?or you, for that matter?doesn?t already know. Save for the new Lexus models and the lovely Scion FR-S, most of Toyota?s cars are bland and not particularly innovative. In return, Toyota delivers bulletproof reliability, high resale values, and fair prices that keep customers loyal for life. Their dealers treat customers so well that the company?s sudden acceleration recalls only made the smallest nick on its reputation. Through September, Toyota sold more than 233,000 Corollas?nearly all of which were ancient 2013 models with four-speed automatics. Toyota knows its customers better than anyone.
According to Interbrand, the nameless ?experts? behind its study predict a company?s profit throughout the next five years, calculate RBIs (not runs batted in, but a loosely defined ?Role of Brand Index?), and use another ?proprietary formula? to rate a company?s ?Brand Strength Score.? Stay with us, because even as Volkswagen ramps up production to hit 10 million vehicles by 2018, it ranks below BMW at number five among the 14 automotive and motorcycle manufacturers on the list. Ferrari, a brand so iconic that it rejects customers outright, is number 98 on the whole list. Toyota is number 10 overall, Hyundai is 43, and so on. It proves nothing but an illusion that Interbrand can use to justify high consulting fees.
But Interbrand is hardly alone. Before Pepsi unveiled their latest logo in 2009, the New York?based Arnell Group put out a 27-page document that correlated soda cases in the grocery store to the sun?s gravitational pull and Einstein?s relativity theory. Armed with buzzwords and sans-serif typefaces, most ad agencies actually believe they can reinvent everyone?s business without knowing how they actually run.
We prefer to judge ad agencies, particularly the car commercials, on their work alone. If you haven?t already heard, Toyota?s really popular these days.
Source: http://blog.caranddriver.com/toyota-named-most-valuable-automotive-brand-by-pete-campbell-types/
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