Never-before-seen photos of the vicious beatdown of a Manhattan dad by a mob of motorcyclists capture the injuries he suffered and the terror he endured.
The chilling cache of images obtained Thursday by the Daily News includes close-up shots of Alexian Lien‘s battered face and body and of the attack in progress.
The photos surfaced after prosecutors announced that charges against 11 suspects will likely be reduced because Lien wasn’t permanently disfigured.
The disturbing images show Lien, 33, with two black eyes and cuts that required stitches over both eyes.
Other shots show him sporting cuts on other parts of his face, a busted lip, scrapes on his hands and knuckles, bruises on his head and back, and two long gouges on his left side.
The suspects, including NYPD Detective Wojchiech Brasczok, 32, are charged with first-degree assault and gang assault. But in December, prosecutors revealed they were thinking of reducing the charges to attempted assault and attempted gang assault.
The gruesome picture gallery also shows the attack in progress as bikers pull Lien from his Range Rover and kick and punch him to a bloody pulp.
While the photos show the violence of the moment, they also capture the kindness of two strangers who stepped in to stop the attack.
Images taken by a cellphone camera from an apartment window show Lien struggling to his feet in the aftermath of the Sept. 29 beating on W. 178th St. in Washington Heights, blood streaming down his face.
Lien was out for a Sunday drive with his wife and 2-year-old when they were suddenly surrounded by bikers on the Henry Hudson Parkway.
A video that surfaced on YouTube days after the attack shows the trouble started when biker Christopher Cruz, 28, of Passaic, N.J., pulled in front of Lien’s luxury SUV and was struck.
Lien immediately stopped but then hit the gas in fear as the angry mob approached his car. Lien ran over and severely injured motorcyclist Edwin Mieses Jr., 32, triggering a 4-mile chase that was capped by his beating.
Despite the abundance of video and photo evidence, lawyers for two of the suspects said Thursday that the images didn’t tell the whole story.
Attorneys Andrew Vecere and Morton Katz said the incident started earlier when Lien clipped a biker on the West Side Highway.
“He is not an innocent victim,” Katz said.
“Everyone is trying to find out what started it,” added Vecere. “That would really paint a clearer picture about what happened.”
