The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, will convene a grand jury on Tuesday to hear evidence against a group of men caught on video last month assaulting police officers in Times Square, he said in a statement.
Mr. Bragg faced criticism when his office did not seek bail for most of the seven men initially arrested, prompting a judge to release them last week, and has since expressed concerns over whether all the perpetrators had been correctly identified.
A law enforcement official said that all the men were migrants who had been in the country under a year, and that four have fled the city since their arraignments, using bus tickets they had bought with the help of a church group. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
“They should be sitting in Rikers right now, on bail,” John Chell, the Police Department chief of patrol, said on Wednesday of the men charged in the attack. “You want to know why our cops are getting assaulted? There are no consequences.”
Mr. Bragg on Friday defended the decision not to seek bail for most of the men in what he called a “despicable” attack, adding, “We make decisions based on the evidence we have before us at the time.”
In a joint statement with Police Commissioner Edward Caban on Saturday, Mr. Bragg said, “It is clear from video and other evidence that some of the most culpable individuals have not yet been identified or arrested.”
“We will work tirelessly with the office of the Manhattan district attorney to identify and arrest every person who participated in this event,” Mr. Caban added.
Mr. Bragg said on Friday that proper identification was required to “secure a conviction and get accountability and send the right people to jail,” emphasizing the phrase “right people.” His office has already decided not to prosecute one of the men initially arrested, based on a lack of evidence.
The case and the outcry over Mr. Bragg’s handling of it touch on several hot-button issues. Among them are criticism of New York’s bail-reform laws, which bar judges from setting bail in most nonviolent crimes, and many New Yorkers’ declining patience with footing the bill for the care of the nearly 70,000 migrants housed in city shelters.
Most of the men arrested in the attack were charged with felony assaults, which remain eligible for bail even under changes in New York State bail law, but nevertheless were released without bail.
The firestorm recalled past episodes involving Mr. Bragg’s office in which the district attorney has not proactively addressed politically charged cases and policy decisions. Mr. Bragg has faced backlash by both Democrats and Republicans in such instances, often responding well after criticism has begun.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference on Wednesday that she was “looking to judges and prosecutors to do the right thing” in the case. On Thursday, she said of any migrants found responsible for the assaults: “Get them all and send them back.”
The attack unfolded at 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 27, when an officer and a lieutenant tried to break up a disorderly group outside the migrant shelter in the Candler building on 42nd Street near Seventh Avenue, the police said.
A 45-second surveillance video released by the police shows the officers talking with several men and then all parties walking away. The video then cuts to the lieutenant and the officer attempting to arrest a man wearing a yellow jacket or sweatshirt.
Soon the officers are on the ground with the man in yellow, trying to arrest him. As they struggle, several other men punch, kick and shove the officers, who were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
That night, four men were arrested and charged with assault on a police officer and with gang assault. A fifth was arrested on Monday and charged with attempted assault on an officer. Two more were arrested on Wednesday and charged with felony assault and robbery, including Yohenry Brito, 24, who was identified as the man in yellow resisting arrest.
The only man for whom prosecutors sought bail was Mr. Brito, who was ordered held at Rikers Island on $15,000 bail. Prosecutors said in court papers that Mr. Brito had pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in September and had two open arrest warrants.
The men who the law enforcement official said had fled the city were Yorman Reveron, 24; Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19; Wilson Juarez, 21; Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19. The official said they all lived in migrant shelters.
The influx of migrants — more than 170,000 of whom entered the city since early 2022 — appears to have had little impact on crime and public safety. Last year, the city saw significant drops in most violent crimes, including murders. But felony assaults rose 6 percent from 2022, and assaults on police officers rose nearly 20 percent, to 2,235.