Two teens have been arrested in connection with the attack on former New York Gov. David Paterson and his 20-year-old stepson as the pair walked their dog in Manhattan on Friday night, authorities confirmed to Fox News Digital on Sunday morning.
Police identified the two teens as a 12-year-old male, who was charged with second-degree gang assault, and a 13-year-old male, who was charged with third-degree gang assault. Their names were withheld because they are minors.
Detectives have been searching for five suspects they say were involved in the attack on Paterson and his stepson, Anthony Chester Sliwa, just after 8:30 p.m. Friday on the Upper East Side.
Five unidentified individuals confronted Paterson and Sliwa and began a verbal altercation that police say escalated into a physical attack that left the former governor with an injury to his head and his stepson with a more severe injury to his face. Paterson and his stepson were treated at a local hospital.
Paterson, who is 70 and legally blind, told FreedomNews.TV on Saturday that his stepson first encountered three of the teens when he spotted them climbing a fire escape to a building in the neighborhood and yelled that he would call the police if they didn’t go back down to the street.
“They came down. He got into it with one of them and that was kind of the end of it,” Paterson said.
The former governor said that he and his stepson then encountered the teens and their friends later on Second Avenue and an argument ensued.
Paterson said that as the teens argued with his stepson, two other adults intervened and sparked the ensuing fight.
“The kids didn’t start the fight,” Paterson said. “They were arguing. Then, when the fight started, everyone got into the fight.”
Paterson told reporters that he was “punched in the face a couple of times” and on the shoulder.
“The person that punched me on the shoulder, I threw them against the McDonald’s window myself,” Paterson said.
Police have released descriptions of the five suspects and requested the public’s aid in identifying them.
The ex-Democratic governor’s spokesperson, Sean Darcy, previously told Fox News Digital that Paterson and his stepson were released from the hospital early Saturday morning.
“The Governor’s only request is that people refrain from attempting to use an unfortunate act of violence for their own personal or political gain,” said Darcy. “He and his wife, Mary, are thankful for the quick response time from the police and the outpouring of support they have received from people across all spectrums.”
Paterson served as governor of New York from 2008 to 2010. His wife is Mary Sliwa, the ex-wife of Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
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