Paterson ‘knockout video’ teen getting death threats, lawyer says

The suspect in the Paterson knockout video pleaded not guilty in Family Court on Wednesday and ruled on trying him as a juvenile.

According to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office,18-year-old Kristian Gonzalez, identified as the suspect by his lawyer, pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault and endangering in connection with a video showing an elderly man being punched on a Paterson street.

The judge also ruled that prosecutors can try Gonzalez, who was 17-years-old at the time of the December incident, as a juvenile. The 16-year-old boy believed to have recorded the incident also pleaded not guilty.

Attorney Harley Breite said Goinzalez has received death threats since surrendering to police on Tuesday and wants his client to be sequestered for 23 hours a day at the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center, where he is being held, NJ Advance Media reported. Gonzalez is a student at Great Falls Academy and  takes medication for schizophrenia, obsessive defiant disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.