The Associated Press
NEW YORK- A man was arraigned Monday for his alleged role in an attack on an off-duty police officer who was later fatally shot by a fellow officer.
Edwin Rivera, 25, was one of six men and boys charged in the Jan. 28 beating of Officer Eric Hernandez in a fast food restaurant in the city’s Bronx borough.
After he was beaten, the dazed officer pulled a gun on a man in the restaurant’s parking lot and was shot by Officer Alfredo Toro. He died Feb. 8 at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Police said Toro fired, not knowing Hernandez was a fellow officer and only after he refused orders to drop his weapon.
A grand jury charged Rivera and the five others with assault, gang assault and attempted gang assault.
Rivera was arraigned on the indictment in Bronx state Supreme Court and ordered held on $50,000 (euro41,449) bail.
Rivera faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the charges against him.