A Pennsylvania man on trial for shooting and wounding four volunteer patrolmen in Brooklyn fired to defend himself from what he perceived as a bloodthirsty mob, his attorney argued yesterday.
A Borough Park mom spotted David Flores, 36, pleasuring himself in a car and called the neighborhood Shomrim patrol — manned by Orthodox Jews — which chased him down on Sept. 2, 2010, prosecutors said in Brooklyn Supreme Court.He was charged with four counts of attempted murder and could get 100 years behind bars if convicted.
“Did he bolt out of the car guns a-blazing, or was he trying to save his own life?” said defense attorney Doug Appel, who said dozens of Jewish men “savagely beat” Flores.
“When the police arrived he was covered in his own blood,” the lawyer said.
Prosecutors say Flores — a restaurant supply store worker who was in Brooklyn visiting his mother — armed himself because he knew his dirty actions would infuriate the straitlaced community.
“He knew his actions would cause any community — not just the Orthodox Jewish — to become outraged,” said assistant district attorney Lindsay Ashwal, who said Flores would have done “anything he could to avoid being arrested for public lewdness.”
Flores was spotted masturbating near children in the neighborhood twice the week before the shooting and has past arrests for robbery and lewdness, cops have said.