Men Who Brawled With Cops Uptown Charged With Assault: DA

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Two men who were filmed squaring off with a group of cops in Washington Heights and getting beat with metal batons will face assault charges, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's office said.

Aaron Grissom, 36, and Sidney Williams, 37, were each charged with two counts of second-degree assault and resisting in connection with the Jan. 8 street brawl, according to an indictment. Grissom was hit with an additional two counts of third-degree assault and Williams was charged with obstructing governmental administration.

Video of the fight taken by witnesses sparked an internal investigation into the violent arrest, an NYPD spokesman said in January. The video shows Grissom and Williams engaged in a verbal dispute with officers in the middle of Broadway and West 169th Street. The police officers strike first, hitting one of the men over the head at least three times with a metal baton, according to the video. When

NYPD body camera footage later released by the NYPD showed the genesis of the altercation when Williams and Grissom refused transit officers' demands to move 100 feet from the West 168th Street subway entrance with both sides exchanging profanities.

Police officials claimed it was Grissom and Williams who first became violent with cops after refusing to leave the area near the subway entrance. The two men were known to hang out at the station and harass people, Manhattan prosecutors said. Grissom and Williams were arrested at the station on Dec. 5 and hit with charges such as attempted assault, menacing and resisting arrest. The two men were also charged with disorderly conduct for a Dec. 28 incident at the station.

Grissom and Williams pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Monday and were released without bail, a spokesman for the Manhattan districy attorney's office said. The men were ordered to appear in court again in June.