Nassadir Tate, 22, had his manslaughter charge dropped Thursday after Manhattan prosecutors reviewed surveillance video backing his self-defense claim.
The New Jersey-based part-time model and programmer was cleared in the March 14 death of Eweka Johnson, 55, on the uptown E train platform at Penn Station, prosecutors announced at a hearing. The decision came after footage showed Johnson initiated the physical confrontation.
Tate had been arrested and charged with assault following the fatal encounter. The video evidence, reviewed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, showed a clear sequence of events that shifted the legal assessment of his actions.
Johnson first bumped into Tate on the crowded platform, then raised his fists in a fighting motion, prosecutors said. Tate attempted to walk around Johnson to de-escalate, but Johnson stepped into his path and put up his dukes, the surveillance footage showed.
That’s when Tate delivered a single punch to Johnson’s face before leaving the scene. He then made a call that was later verified to be to 911, according to prosecutors.
The medical consequences were swift and severe. Just two minutes after the blow, Johnson’s knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground. He was later pronounced dead due to a ruptured cerebral artery aneurysm caused by the punch, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said at the hearing.
Tate admitted to police that he punched Johnson one time in the face because he “feared for my physical safety,” prosecutors said — claiming that he believed they were about to fight.
A relative of Tate had told The Post at the time of his arrest that Tate was a “good kid” who “never found trouble.”
“He’s not a troubled person. He’s not an instigator. He’s not a violent person,” the relative had said.
Tate’s attorney, Wayne Gosnell, did not immediately respond to request for comment following Thursday’s dismissal.
The case highlighted the complex intersection of self-defense claims and fatal outcomes in public transit spaces, with video surveillance playing a decisive role in the prosecutorial determination.
In the viral moment that preceded the legal proceedings, Tate was initially portrayed as an aggressor in media coverage of the arrest. The March 14 encounter on the uptown E train platform at Penn Station began with an accidental bump between two strangers during the evening commute. Within minutes, one man was dead and another was facing serious criminal charges, with the full context of the confrontation not yet publicly visible.
The dismissal leaves no remaining criminal charges against Tate in connection with Johnson’s death.