New York Man Given 'Pain Compliance' By Guardian Angels On TV To Sue

A New York City man who was branded a shoplifter and migrant while roughed up by members of the Guardian Angels on live television last month has announced his intent to file a civil lawsuit against the anti-crime organization.

“I’m not afraid anymore,” Marco Piña, 22, said at a press conference Tuesday, according to The New York Daily News. His first public comments followed him giving an interview with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal charges, according to Pix11 News.

Piña said he migrated to the U.S. from Mexico as a toddler 20 years ago and has only ever known New York City as his home. He has also “never broken the law,” he added, contrary to what was allegedly said against him by the group’s founder, Curtis Sliwa, on national television.

Sliwa was giving an interview with Fox News about the city’s rising crime and migrants on Feb. 6 when he accused Piña ― who he characterized as “one of the migrant guys” ― of shoplifting.

“They’ve taken over,” Sliwa told host Sean Hannity. “The Guardian Angels spotted him, stopped him, he resisted, and let’s just say we gave him a little pain compliance. His mother, back in Venezuela, felt the vibrations. He is sucking concrete. The cops scraped him off the asphalt. He’s on his way to jail.”

Piña, in his press conference Tuesday, said he was initially fearful about speaking out against Sliwa because of his immigration status under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows certain migrants who came to the U.S. as children the chance to request deferred action against deportation. Felony or significant misdemeanor convictions can revoke the process under DACA’s guidelines.

“I’m a nobody in this city. Curtis Sliwa is famous. I was