MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — The iconic bloody face of Occupy Wall Street — a 20-year-old wanderer named Brandon Watts — was rearrested on an out-of-state warrant and held for two days before being ordered released Friday after a Pennsylvania district attorney declined to extradite him.
Watts, 20, was arrested at Port Authority Bus Terminal on Wednesday on a Wyoming County, Pa. warrant for failing to appear on a property theft case, his attorney said.
He was at the bus terminal waiting for his sister to arrive when he was arrested and taken into custody, said his lawyer, Martin Stolar.
Watts was famously bloodied in a clash with police during a Nov. 17 Occupy Wall Street march, with an image of bloodied Watts widely published in news reports of the event.
His injuries, which were not considered to be as serious as they appeared, occurred while he was being arrested on grand larceny and other charges for allegedly taking a police officer's hat.
His open case in Pennsylvania is for allegedly stealing a 5-gallon jug of gasoline from a farmer. Watts allegedly stopped to pick it up while traveling through town when he found he was out of gas in June 2011, Stolar said.
Watts was being held without bail on his fugitive warrant case after his arraignment Wednesday, and had his case dismissed Friday when Stolar appeared before a judge on his behalf.
Manhattan prosecutors said at the brief appearance that they were dismissing the fugitive case because the Wyoming County Pennsylvania District Attorney's office chose want to extradite Watts.
"Please be advised that upon further review of this matter, I have decided not to extradite Brendon Watts to Wyoming County," the county's DA Jeff Mitchell wrote in a letter to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s office that was filed in court.
Watts was was still waiting to be released from a Manhattan Detention Center about 7 p.m. Friday.
Watts has been arrested several times since he came to New York to join the protest and has five open cases, including one felony, his lawyer said.
But his behavior is likely the result of a troubled childhood spent in and out of foster homes, the lawyer said.
DNAinfo caught up with Watts at Zuccotti Park on Tuesday night when he reentered with hundreds of protesters after barricades were removed from the perimeter for the first time since the encampment was cleared on Nov. 15.
Watts said he was planning to sue the city, "because I almost got killed," he said.
"I had a concussion, a fractured skull, two fractured eye sockets, two broken ribs," he said. "Another person took the cop's hat. They couldn't catch him so they chased me."
He also said he's been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD.
His lawyer said he's trying to get him to Fountain House, a residential psychiatric treatment center in Manhattan, and is hoping to resolve his other open cases.
With Ben Fractenberg
