A man who battered a motorist in a Queens parking space brawl finally turned himself in to cops this week, giving a bizarre explanation over his delay in stepping forward.
Matthew Nicola, 25, was arrested nearly two months after he was caught-on-video joining in as a mother-daughter duo attacked a female motorist and flung racial slurs because she stole their “saved” spot on a Ridgewood street on July 6.
“Honestly, I was going through a lot of things in my life, so I couldn’t really turn myself in right away,” Nicola said outside Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday. “But I took care of it.”
Nicola was seen in the now-viral video raining punches down on Pace College student Jada McPherson, 21, as the driver tangled with 45-year-old Andrea Dumitru and her daughter Sabrina Starman, 21.
Dumitru and Starman were both arrested and charged with assault after the attack, but Nicola fled and only turning himself in to police this week.
“I do feel bad for what I did,” Nicola said. “So we could just leave it at that. I don’t want to be an a–hole.”
The brawl broke out after McPherson tried to park her car and came across Dumitru, Starman and Nicola standing in an open spot. McPherson left them, but after being unable to find another she came back and said she was going to take it.
But the group refused, and when she got out of the car to confront them she said Nicola went “ballistic” and the brawl exploded.
“You’re a monkey, bitch,” Dumitru shouted at one point, with Starman later yelling “You’re a f–king slave bitch. You’re a slave for what it’s worth” as they walloped McPherson, who is black.
McPherson responded by calling Dumitru an “immigrant bitch.”
Nicola was charged with third-degree assault, and a judge granted McPherson an order of protection against him — which she said has left her finally feeling some relief.
“I’m just glad that it happened, honestly. Finally. It’s just relieving. The situation was traumatic. So it’s just very relieving that I have the order of protection now,” she said after hearing the news.
Nicola was released after he was charged, and McPherson — who moved out of the Queens neighborhood where the attack happened days later — is afraid he could be a danger to other women on her old block.
“I just feel like he should reflect on what he did and, you know, putting his hands on a female and stuff like that,” she said. “I hope you bring light to the situation so it doesn’t happen again.”
Nicola is due back in court on Oct. 27. Dumitru and Starman — who were also cut loose after their arrests — are due in court on Sept. 9.
The three aren’t related, but neighbors told The Post Nicola came from a tough background and was treated as something of a nephew by Dumitru, whom he referred to as his “aunt.”
“It’s not his own aunt. It’s somebody that sort of looked after him,” said Bikash K., who used to employ Nicola at a restaurant but fired him because he said he was a “short fuse guy” and “a little on edge all the time.”
Even so, Nicola’s old boss was shocked to see him partaking in the beatdown.
“I’ve grown up in Ridgewood and I have seen fights over parking — that was over the top. They were acting stupid, his aunt and him,” he sad. “I sympathize with the lady that got hurt. I’m with her on this. They were completely out of line.”
McPherson is about to begin a new semester at Pace, and is hopeful this final arrest will finally allow her to move on from what turned into a dreadful summer.
“It just caught so much media attention and everything,” she said.
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