Politics

U.S. Ambassador To Serbia Vows Justice

Basketball Player Wanted In Vicious Beating Of Brooklyn Student At Binghamton Bar Still In Homeland

NEW YORK (CBS) ― He apparently escaped to avoid prosecution.

Now, the manhunt has escalated for a Serbian basketball player accused in the vicious beating of a college student.

CBS 2 HD has learned exclusively the diplomat that helped Miladin Kovacevic escape will face criminal charges. The student left in a coma appears to be making progress.

If diplomacy fails the U.S. now appears ready to take matters into its own hands to force the return the 20-year-old Kovacevic to face criminal charges in New York. CBS 2 HD spoke exclusively Thursday to the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in Serbia.

"We will do everything we can legally, whether arresting, anything we can do legally to get this guy back to justice in the U.S.," said Cameron Munter, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia.

Kovacevic was one of three SUNY Binghamton students charged after a may 4 confrontation in a local bar, ending with 22-year-old graduating Bryan Steinhauer of Brooklyn beaten into a coma. With the help of the Serbian vice counsel in New York, Kovacevic jumped a $100,000 bail and fled to Serbia.

"We've said, this is absolutely outrageous," Munter said.

While Steinhauer fights for his life, diplomats told CBS 2 HD on Thursday they were promised the vice counsel will face criminal charges.

"What he has done, to my knowledge, is not only a question of bad judgment, it is a criminal act," Munter said.

Meanwhile, the two others charged in the case are now in jail and are facing upgraded assault charges, and Steinhauer's best friend, Theo Bacon, is joining the demand for justice.

"There's no reason he shouldn't be on U.S. ground and I don't know why he's not," Bacon said.

He's furious Kovacevic slipped away.

"It makes me angry. It makes me frustrated," Bacon said.

Steinhauer's neighbors want justice, too.

"The person who ran away, he should be caught and face charges," Jacquelyn Lawrence said.

"He did the crime. You have to make him pay for it," Joe Keaton added.

Diplomats tell CBS 2 HD that they're willing to ask international police for help. They're hoping the basketball player returns voluntarily.

Serbian authorities are waiting for more information before issuing an arrest warrant for Kovacevic. Meanwhile, the two others charged in the attack are due back in court on July 7.

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