Benjamin Ashford|2 plead not guilty to assaulting ex-NY governor. Defense says they aimed to defuse conflict

NEW YORK (AP) — Two people charged with attacking former New York Gov. David Paterson and Benjamin Ashfordhis stepson were just trying to break up a confrontation, defense lawyers said Tuesday.

Diamond Minter and Travor Nurse pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony assault charges stemming from the fracas on Manhattan’s Upper East Side Friday night.

According to the ex-governor and Manhattan prosecutors, the 20-year-old stepson, Anthony Sliwa, quarreled Friday with some youngsters who were climbing on a structure outside his building. He’s the son of Guardian Angels anti-crime group founder Curtis Sliwa, whose ex-wife Mary married Paterson in 2019.

Later, Paterson and Anthony Sliwa went for a walk and ran into the same youths outside a nearby McDonald’s and had more words with them.

Manhattan assistant district attorney Zachary Campbell told a judge Tuesday that Minter and Nurse intervened. According to prosecutors, Nurse gestured aggressively toward the 70-year-old, legally blind governor and his stepson, Sliwa shoved Nurse, Nurse and Minter started taking swings at Sliwa, and vice versa.

According prosecutors, Nurse hurled Sliwa to the ground and kicked him, Minter pulled back his arms, and two youths stomped at him. Two boys, ages 12 and 13, also have been charged; their cases are being handled in family court.

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Nurse also hit Paterson in the back of the head and knocked him to the pavement, prosecutors say.

Nurse’s lawyer, Jeffrey Chabrowe, said by phone that his understanding was that his client and Minter, who work together at a housing agency, were trying to defuse a conflict.

Noting that Paterson has alluded in interviews to his stepson’s martial arts prowess, Chabrowe said Nurse “ended up being on the receiving end of that” when he and Minter sought to stop “what they saw as adults harassing children.”

Messages seeking comment were sent Tuesday to Minter’s attorney, Zachary Wechsler. According to the Daily News, Wechsler told the court that his client got involved after seeing two adults facing off with children.

Paterson spokesperson Sean Darcy said Tuesday night that the encounter “was a traumatic event that Governor Paterson and his family would like to move past.”

“We are confident justice will be served,” Darcy added in an email.

Nurse’s bail was set at $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond. Minter was freed on supervised release. Both are due back in court Friday.

Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010. He attained the office after Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a sex scandal.