What to Know
- A Queens man is accused of kidnapping and threatening to kill his girlfriend, who he met on a dating app months prior, the local district attorney’s office announced.
- Herman Brightman, 30, as arraigned Tuesday on a seven-count indictment charging him with kidnapping in the second degree; unlawful imprisonment in the first degree; criminal mischief in the third degree; menacing in the second degree; unlawful imprisonment in the second degree; criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; and criminal mischief in the fourth degree.
- The investigation is ongoing. The district attorney’s office is urging other women Brightman dated and victimized to contact its domestic violence helpline at 718-286-4410.
A Queens man is accused of kidnapping and threatening to kill his girlfriend, who he met on a dating app months prior, the local district attorney’s office announced.
District Attorney Melinda Katz said that Herman Brightman, 30, “terrorized” his girlfriend in her own home. He was arraigned Tuesday on a seven-count indictment charging him with kidnapping in the second degree; unlawful imprisonment in the first degree; criminal mischief in the third degree; menacing in the second degree; unlawful imprisonment in the second degree; criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; and criminal mischief in the fourth degree. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
Brightman is scheduled to return to court on Nov. 28. Attorney information was not immediately available.
The charges Brightman faces are in connection to a series of events that took place on Aug. 7.
According to the charges, it was on that day that Brightman, who also went by the alias Nazir Griffiths, and the woman he met months earlier though a dating app got into an argument at her home, in which he ended up throwing the woman’s computer monitor and shattering the screen.
Allegedly, Brightman told the woman to sit on the bed while he went into the kitchen and got a knife, which he used to chop her cell phone.
Subsequently, he climbed on top of the woman, poker her with the tip of the knife, covered her mouth with his hands and threatened to gut her, according to the district attorney’s office. Brightman allegedly proceeded to tell the woman to turn up the music that was playing, looked out the window to check for people, and told her that he was going to kill her.
Brightman then allegedly taped the woman’s mouth shut, bound her wrists behind her back and demanded she sit in a corner of the room.
The investigation is ongoing. The district attorney’s office is urging other women Brightman dated and victimized to contact its domestic violence helpline at 718-286-4410.
“The defendant terrorized his girlfriend in her own home. Wielding a knife, he threatened to gut her; he threatened to kill her. She is fortunate to have escaped with her life,” Katz said. I urge women who may have been victimized by the defendant, or need safety planning services, or help in securing an order of protection or shelter placement, to call our 24-hour domestic violence hotline.”
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