Two Staten Island students, charged with assault for a bat attack on a car full of teens who crashed as they fled, said yesterday they were only helping girls whom the teens were insulting – and should not be blamed for a boy’s death in the wreck.
Arben Selmani, 21, a scholar athlete at C.W. Post University, and Joseph Milrud, 21, a St. John’s University student, were released on $2,500 bail after being arraigned in a Staten Island courtroom in connection with the April 4 tragedy.
Their two pals, who were also in the car, and the insulted girl, who summoned them on her cellphone after getting into the argument with the boys, were arrested Wednesday night and later released without charges, cops said.
“They were throwing dog biscuits and condoms and calling them whores and sluts,” said Selmani’s lawyer, Mark Fonte.
The tragic dispute began when 16-year-old Leonardo Ingrassia and four pals tried to pick up a car filled with girls at a red light.
When things turned nasty, one of the girls, Katherine Lividikof, called her brother, Demo, 24, who drove up with Selmani and Milrud in the back seat.
The men surrounded the car and Selmani and Milrud smashed its back window with bats, cops said.
The car of terrified teens then sped off, ran a red light, clipped another car, hit a utility pole, flipped over and burst into flames, killing Ingrassia instantly.