Heartless NYC teen poked dead victim’s floating body in Hudson River with a stick after beating him to death: prosecutors
The pint-sized teen menace accused of beating a man who then drowned in the Hudson River heartlessly pelted his floating body with rocks and repeatedly poked it with a stick, prosecutors charged Friday.
Miguel Cortez, 19 — who accumulated two other open assault cases in a little over a year — was ordered held on $500,000 bail in the alleged gruesome death of the 42-year-old victim on the waterfront at West 158th Street and Riverside Drive in Washington Heights.
Witnesses said they saw the teen and victim arguing as they walked toward a rocky bank of the Hudson River, Assistant District Attorney Jesse Matthews said at Cortez’s arraignment in Manhattan criminal court.
Then Cortez allegedly struck the victim with a “foreign object,” which prosecutors said was most likely a rock, the prosecutor charged.
The blow was so powerful it knocked the older man into the water where he drowned, prosecutors said.
Witnesses also alleged they saw Cortez “throwing rocks at the victim’s body” as it floated at the edge of the Hudson River — while poking it with a stick, according to prosecutors.
Matthews said Cortez gave multiple — and inconsistent — versions of the story to authorities, with none of them matching what witnesses claimed they saw.
“Ultimately, [Cortez said] he was drinking with the victim, observed the victim was walking on the rocks, and then fell down and slid into the water,” Matthews said.
Prosecutors said the victim, who hasn’t been identified, had multiple lacerations on his head and that an autopsy revealed the cause of death was from blunt force trauma and drowning caused by an assault with a hard object.
Cortez’s attorney Kevin Sylvan countered with a rambling defense, saying Cortez denies any wrongdoing, but was cut off by Judge Jonathan Svetkey.
“He said he never threw rocks at anyone — I’m informed that he was never arguing with this person,” Sylvan asserted.
Cortez has two open bench warrants on assault charges – including from May 23, when he allegedly punched a stranger in the forehead and threatened to use a hatchet on the victim, prosecutors said.
The tiny teen was also accused of hitting and kicking a victim on Sept. 27, prosecutors said.
Neither of the bench warrant incidents involved bail-eligible charges — and Cortez skipped out on court in both cases, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.
He could face up to 25 years in prison on first- and second-degree manslaughter charges in the Hudson River case.
His next court appearance was set for Aug. 29.
