Violent Attempt to Steal a Motor Scooter in New York

In People v. Henderson, 92 NY2d 677, 680, 708 N.E.2d 165, 685 N.Y.S.2d 409 (1999), the defendant and another individual pulled the informant from a motor scooter and kicked the informant about the legs. This caused the informant to suffer substantial pain and develop contusions and swelling on informant's legs. The Court of Appeals reasoned that these factual allegations satisfied the "physical injury" element of the offense, thereby surviving a facial sufficiency motion. "The information recites that defendant, together with another and in an attempt to steal the victim's property, attempted to pull the victim from his motor scooter and kicked him in the legs, causing him to suffer contusions and swelling. Accepting these allegations as true, a jury could certainly infer that the victim felt substantial pain (Henderson at 680)." The Court of Appeals indicated that a jury could "certainly" infer that a victim felt substantial pain where an information recited that "defendant, together with another and in an attempt to steal the victim's property, attempted to pull the victim from his motor scooter and kicked him in the legs, causing him to suffer contusions and swelling" (id.). The court further reasoned, "It is significant as well that these kicks were not the petty slaps or shoves . . . delivered out of . . . meanness' eschewed by the Legislature in its intended definition of physical injury,' but rather were the spearhead of a concerted physical attack aimed at forcefully taking the victim's property" (id.)