It's the Women, Not the Men!

Alexian Lien, 33

Although the following incident made national news last October, the true hero of this terrifying event was seldom mentioned. The story began on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York City as a large group of young bikers began to aggressively taunt slow drivers along the highway. But, what began as a spirited bike ride would soon devolve into “mob mentality” leaving one driver nearly beaten to death and one biker with a broken back.

Apparently, the 75 to 100 bikers were not happy with the “slow” pace at which some drivers were traveling along the highway, as they weaved in and out, passing the drivers at excessive speed. As more and more drivers began to slow down, rather than speed up, in response to the bikers aggressive actions, the three lane highway began to come to a halt, trapping innocent drivers in the melee.

Alexian and Rosalyn Lien

Not being content to bypass these drivers, a few of the bikers, some of whom turned out to be off-duty cops, swarmed one SUV, which was driven by a young technology executive named Alexian Lien. Apparently biker Christopher Cruz were determined to stop and “punish” Lien for some perceived affront and proceeded to slow his bike down to a crawl in front of Lien’s car. Eventually both vehicles tapped bumpers, which enraged Cruz further.

Lien who had his young wife, Rosalyn Ng, and their 2-year-old daughter, in the car with him, panicked as his car was surrounded by bikers who began beating his car. In his efforts to escape from the imminent threat to his family, Lien ran over, and seriously injured, biker Edwin Mieses.

This resulted in a chase to the bottom of the George Washington Bridge where Lien was finally trapped, dragged from his car and beaten to within an inch of his life, in front of his wife and small daughter.

Sergio Consuegra

Sergio Consuegra, who is the father of 10 children, was on his way to church when he came upon this horrific scene. Rather than remain a bystander, Mr. Consuegra chose to intervene. He placed himself between Lien and his assailants, raised his arms in the air and yelled, “That’s it guys! Let it go, man! Let it go! That’s it. Just go, man.”  

Mr. Consuegra was to later describe the scene when he said, “So we stood at each other, looking at each other’s faces, and somehow, they stopped right in front of me.” Mr. Consuegra is credited with having saved Lien’s life.

A video taken by one of the bikers helped to indict eleven bikers, including one undercover cop, for the beating of Alexian Lien. Today, Mr. Lien continues to recover from his injuries but if it weren’t for the bravery of one Christian father, named Sergio Consuegra, the outcome may have been very different.