Security Guard Who Broke Man's Ribs Admits To Lying About Attack

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — A guard who attacked someone and broke their ribs in a lower Manhattan social security office pleaded guilty to lying about the attack on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Edwin Caban, a former guard at the Financial District office, pushed "the victim over a desk and then repeatedly [punched] the victim in the ribs without physical provocation," prosecutors said.

Caban, 56, previously worked as a security officer at a Social Security Administration building located 123 William St. He was employed by a private contractor hired by the Federal Protective Services, the branch of Homeland Security that guards federal buildings.

According to prosecutors, Caban was working in the lobby of the building in June 2016 when a man entered the building pushing an older man in a wheelchair. When Caban tried to move the wheelchair, the man asked him to stop, prosecutors said. Caban then accused the man of trying to take photos of him with his phone, according to the complaint. At that point, Caban reached for the man, who had his hands up, and pushed him toward the elevator bank, authorities said. Caban allegedly continued to push him backward over a desk, before pinning the man against a wall and then punching him four times in the chest and ribs, according to prosecutors. The incident was recorded by security cameras.

Caban lied about the incident to NYPD officers who responded to the scene, in an incident report he submitted, and to investigators from the Federal Protective Service, prosecutors claimed.

Caban was initially charged with violating the civil rights of the victim he attacked when he was arrested in April. The prosecutor's office didn't immediately respond to an inquiry about why the civil rights charge was dropped.

Caban pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false form and faces up to five years in prison.

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