Court report: Jewish men accused of assaulting traffic warden in north London

Osher Freidman then allegedly pinned Mr Pond down and punched him as a large crowd of locals rush over.

Shocked pedestrians began videoing the fracas on their mobile phones as Mr Pond got up, and began swinging his helmet at the surrounding men, in what prosecutor Demi Ugurtay described as an act of self-defence.

Mr Pond then remounted his moped, and drove off, before returning to collect a storage box that had fallen off during scuffle.

But he was then dragged off the bike again, with Osher Freidman, Benjamin Beigel, 25, and Yakov Nowogrodski, 26, holding him to the floor with his arms behind his back.

Footage of the incident shows Mr Nowogrodski saying he is performing a citizens arrest on Mr Pond, who is handed over to the police when they arrive.

The four men belong to the local orthodox Jewish community and several other Jewish men rushing over to assist the Freidmans.

Dozens of videos were uploaded to YouTube, and some of them described the brawl as an orthodox Jewish attack on a traffic warden following the incident.

The four men claim they were performing a citizen's arrest on Mr Pond, after he deliberately ran over Mordechai Freeman.

Mrs Ugurtay said: 'What happened is a traffic warden, Marvin Pond, has been attacked by these four gentlemen

'Marvin Pond was on patrol on the afternoon when he encountered Osh Freidman, he remonstrated with him, alleging that he was issuing an illegal parking ticket.

'This continued and Marvin Pond issued the ticket and took photos of the gold Lexus associated with Mordechai Freidman.

'When Mr Pond returned to his moped he was followed by Osher Freidman as he turned to leave, Mordechai Freidman blocks him with the Lexus.

'Marvin Pond attempted to wheel the moped out and made out that he had struck the vehicle, accusing him of a hit and run.

'Events escalated suddenly as Marvin Pond tried to get out, he is surrounded and grabbed from behind with people pulling him off his vehicle and causing the moped to fall on the back wheel, colliding with Mordechai Freidman.

'Osher Freidman was pinned by the others who then sat upon Marvin Pond on the floor, punching him.

'He manages to get to his feet by this time a crowd has gathered around him, of 20 other males.

'Marvin Pond took of his helmet, swinging it around at those surrounding him in self defence.

'He managed to get back on his moped and ride away from the scene.

'He rode back to obtain his storage box, at which point a number of men take hold of him and pulled him to the floor.

'There were about four men holding him down. This included Osher Freidman, Benjamin Beigel and Yakov Nowogrodski, with his arms on his back and the men using their weight to bear down on him.

'The police arrived and Marvin Pond was arrested due to reports he intentionally driven his moped into somebody.

'He was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.

'He explained what happened at the scene. Osher Freidman, Mordechai Freidman and Benjamin Beigel were among those to provide witness statements to the police.

'Both Osher Freidman and Mordechai Freidman accused Marvin Pond of deliberately driving at Mordechai Freidman in their statement.

'However since the investigating officer viewed Marvin Pond's body worn footage and other recordings available on social media, a decision was taken to take no further action.

'They were identified on the footage, arrested and interview as suspects.'

Jeffrey Israel, defending Yakov Nowogrodski and Benjamin Beigel, says they performed a citizen arrest, believing Mr Pond had run over Freidman on purpose.

'Can the crown disprove so you are sure, that Marvin Pond committed an indictable offence?' he said.

'If that's the case, whether or not the behaviour of the four defendants was reasonable, if Osher Freidman had reasonable grounds to suspect he had committed an offence, and perform a citizens arrest.

'The prosecution have to prove that in the citizen's arrest there were not reasonable grounds to suspect an offence was being committed.'

Beigel and Nowogrodski, both from Stoke Newington, both deny one count of assault by beating.

Mordechai Freidman, also from Stoke Newington, denies one count of assault by beating, and Osher Freidman, from Tottenham, two counts of assault by beating.

The trial at Stratford Magistrates' Court continues.