Man, 45, dies weeks after dozens of bikers beat him in NYC: police officers

A 45-year-old man died two weeks after being brutally beaten by more than two dozen ATV and dirt bike riders during an incident in Harlem, police officers said Wednesday.

Arthur Cooke was driving east on East 125th Street near Fifth Avenue shortly after 10 p.m. on November 4 when about 30 ATV and dirt bike riders surrounded him, authorities said.

One of the bikers hit the passenger mirror of Cooke’s car, police said.

When Cooke came out to inspect the damage, the bikers ganged up on him and started beating him, cops said.

One of the suspects also pointed a gun at Cooke, authorities said.

Moments later, another man, not involved in the attack, jumped into Cooke’s car and drove away, police officers said.

Cooke was taken to Harlem Hospital, where he was held in intensive care until he succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

The incident was ruled a homicide, authorities said.

There were no arrests as of Wednesday.

According to a GoFundMe page set up for him before his death, Cooke was “on a date with his significant other” when he was attacked.

The fundraising page described him as “a man full of laughter and full of hope”.

Most recently, according to his LinkedIn profile, he assumed the role of special court counsel for the Exodus Transitional Community, which provides services to current and former inmates.

“Arthur was a beloved member of our community and we are all devastated by the loss,” founder and chief executive Julio Medina said in a statement obtained by WABC. “Like so many people at Exodus, we considered Arthur a member of our family, and his story is similar to that of thousands of others we serve.”

“We’ve watched his mindset shift from hopelessness to hope and aspirations since serving his sentence, and he’s always helped his participants do the same,” Medina said. “For Arthur, the value of his work became apparent when he saw the joy that those he helped saw that there was light at the end of the tunnel. That meant everything to Arthur.”

Cooke served four years in state prison – from 2017 to 2021 – for assault, state correction records show.

His previous jail time was from 2009 to 2013 for robbery, assault and arson, the records say.