Brooklyn man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for assaulting homeless man on Facebook Live

June 15, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Daquan King was sentenced on Friday for assaulting a homeless man on Facebook Live. Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office

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Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Friday that a 24-year-old Brooklyn man was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for a wanton attack on a 58-year-old man, parts of which the defendant broadcast on Facebook Live.

Gonzalez identified the defendant as Daquan King, 24, of Prospect Lefferts Gardens. He was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice William Harrington to five and a half years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision following his guilty plea last month to second-degree assault.

The district attorney said that on March 24, 2017 at approximately 9:35 p.m., the defendant entered an elevator inside 50 Lincoln Road, in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, where he encountered a homeless man who used to frequent that residential building. The defendant set out to torment the visibly intoxicated victim for fun, according to the evidence, which includes video surveillance. He took money from the man’s pocket, tossed it on the floor, closed the elevator door and held it shut for several minutes, trapping the man inside. After he allowed the victim to exit the elevator, the defendant pulled him to the floor, and hit, dragged and kicked him down the stairs as two of the defendant’s friends looked on and laughed.

The defendant followed the victim to the next floor and started recording a Facebook Live video. The video shows the defendant kick the victim from the top of the stairs, causing him to fly through the air and land at the bottom of the 15 steps. He is then seen laughing and callously stepping over the man, who at that point was bleeding from the head. The defendant continued to record as he exited the building and directed people he encountered to “go to the fifth floor,” remarking that he kicked someone down the stairs and that he is on Facebook Live. He looked at the camera and said, “When I end this video, go and watch the video.”

The video came to the attention of law enforcement. Upon analyzing the video, a detective was able to pinpoint the location of the assault. He responded to the building and observed blood on the fourth floor, where he learned that a man had been transported from the location to Kings County Hospital with head injuries. The detective recognized the victim from the Facebook Live video and located him. The defendant was arrested the next day.

“This cruel and cowardly assault of a defenseless older man was sickening and shameful,” Gonzalez said. “The defendant’s brazen behavior, combined with excellent work by a quick-thinking detective, led to his capture and ensured that justice was done in this case.”

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Sasha Pemberton, of the District Attorney’s Green Zone Trial Bureau; under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney David Klestzick, bureau chief.

—Information from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office