At first, high-school student, Cyan Brown from Queens, New York, was seen as someone defending herself when several men tried to harass and grope her, and she stabbed one in the chest on Christmas Eve. Suddenly, that all changed and now the 16-year-old is charged with first degree manslaughter and could face 25 years behind bars, if convicted.
Daily Beast: The first version of the Christmas Eve killing of Thomas Winston, a homeless man from Queens, went like this: Cyan Brown, a beautiful, 16-year-old high-school student, was buying a snack at a fried-chicken restaurant. Winston, 29, and several other men began to harass her. Brown fled into the subway. When Winston and some of his friends followed her there and tried to grope her, Brown stabbed Winston in the chest. The New York Daily News portrayed the girl as a plucky urban vigilante; Winston, who would die at a hospital, was a “subway thug.”
A second version of Winston’s killing emerged three days later, after Cyan Brown had surrendered to the police. “She’s no victim, after all,” the News chirped with the assuredness only a tabloid can muster after fully changing its story. A police source now said it was Brown, the teenager, who was the “main aggressor” in the altercation. Winston never made it to the subway; he died outside of the chicken restaurant. Indeed, it was Brown who fled into the subway, other sources told the News, after she leapt on top of Winston, who was lying on his back in the snow, and sunk a knife into his heart.
