ABC 7 in New York reports (video at the link):
The alleged victims told police they were attacked as they left Clockwork, a popular punk dive bar on Essex Street on the Lower East Side. They said they were initially inside the bar but decided to leave because they were uncomfortable around some of the other patrons, claiming several of them were wearing patches and insignia that appeared to identify them as part of the skinhead or Nationalist movement.
And they supposedly got upset when they noticed the sticker on one of the brother’s phones.
“So he rips the phone out of my brother’s hand,” said one of the victims, who did not wish to be identified.
He described the assault as six or seven men punching and kicking them, even using a brass knuckle that was later found by police smeared with blood just outside the bar. He said they tried to escape by fleeing down the block to nearby Hester Street, but their assailants followed with one man allegedly brandished a knife.
“Absolutely (we feared for our lives),” he said. “I’m not sure how often someone gets a knife pulled on them, but that’s not something that happens very frequently, especially in a place that I thought would be relatively safe.”
Police officers working in the area came upon the bloodied brothers and took them back to the bar, where one man was arrested.
“We don’t support, endorse, or sympathize with any neo-Nazi, white supremacy group, or any group that’s violent in that way,” bar owner Frank Scotto said. “That’s not what we’re about.”
Even so the victims, grad students at Columbia, say they won’t be back there. Both are still stunned that this could happen in New York.
“I’m completely shocked, and I’m appalled by it,” the victim said. “I feel like these organizations are sort of being emboldened to come out of the woodwork now, just because of the general sentiment that’s going on.”
The suspect was identified as 29-year-old John Young. He is charged with assault, grand larceny, criminal mischief and menacing.
Omnes Omnibus
Obligatory
NotMax
Columbia is wa-a-ay uptown. Must be 10,000 watering holes between there and the Lower East side.
Hell, the area near to both Essex and Hester streets is seedy even at high noon.
Mike J
From their web site:
Here’s the problem with “punk bars” that have been around since 2013. Most punk bars back in the day went through at least one phase where there were popular with assholes, and learned how to keep them out, or at least keep them under control while they kept the money.
This place is like the CBGB’s in the Newark airport. It’s a theme bar you could find at Disneyland and the people running it have no idea which people to keep out in a punk bar.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: You haven’t been there in a while, then.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: the guy at the door looks at the patches on the jacket and shakes his head. Or, in the right place, the guy at the door has a good sense of who is there for fun and who is there for trouble.
Kropadope
I wonder what the sticker on the victim’s phone was.
TriassicSands
Flynn is out. Now, the second most unfit and unqualified person to be National Security Advisor to the president is about to get a new job — National Security Advisor to the president.
Trump has an almost unerring ability to attract and hire the absolute worst person for any given job. Somewhere out there is a person who is almost as bad a choice for National Security Advisor and Trump is about to hire her/him.
No matter who gets the nod it is still a good thing that Flynn is gone. It was obvious from the beginning that this wasn’t anyone who should be advising a president — especially one as stupid and ignorant as Trump.
Kropadope
@TriassicSands:
When you start from the bottom, there’s nowhere to go but up.
danielx
The Rude Pundit says we are doomed.
It’s the semi-vacant smirk that gets me.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Was on Essex Street just this past September, as a matter of fact, after visiting the Tenement Museum on nearby Orchard Street.
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx: Semi?!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@danielx: He saw a hottie across the room.
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus: Semi works, he was definitely half aware of his situation. While he was oblivious to the crisis unfolding around him (de rigeur at this point), he definitely knew he was at the Mar-A-Lago, surrounded by his rich patrons, eager to smile for any available camera.
Yarrow
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s not completely vacant because he thinks he’s flirting with the woman taking the picture. Or he thinks she’s flirting with him. Either way, he’s not completely unfocused. Just focused on something unrelated to being president, dealing with a national crisis, hosting a foreign prime minister, etc.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: @Yarrow: ::shudder::
Yarrow
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s both gross and terrifying.
Another Scott
@danielx: Yup.
“Banality of Evil” comes to mind, looking at that photo.
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who hasn’t read the book.)
Peale
Ah skinheads-one of the reasons I’m in favor of instituting extreme vetting of all European immigrants. They bring crime and violence wherever they go, and have trouble integrating with our values. Has anyone thought of the cost of hosting them here?
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not entirely convinced it wouldn’t be worse if he were trying to be more involved.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: Not arguing.
? Martin
Just a reminder: the most serious assertion in the Trump dossier was that his advisors had been working with Russian operatives to defeat Clinton. It has since been reported that our intelligence agencies have been able to verify some information in the dossier and are taking it more seriously.
The DOJ notified Trump that Flynn had been compromised, Trump did nothing regarding Flynn, but did fire the acting head of the DOJ. Only when the press reports on the interaction does Flynn get pushed out.
The only reason we know any of this is that every goddamn intelligence agency is leaking like mad right now – remember, the transcript of the call with the Russian ambassador was confirmed by 9 senior intelligence members. There is no way that they went this far just to get Flynn out. This will get much bigger.
danielx
@Kropadope:
“Where’s my football guy? Hey, football guy, c’mere with that case thing!”
Kropadope
@danielx: The football guy was unavailable; he, too, was out on a photo-op.
efgoldman
@? Martin:
And now we get to real-world test the hypothesis:
I thought the first real-world example would be, oohhh, some guy named Homey… Croney… Phony… I’ll think of it.
danielx
@Kropadope:
I really must come up with a description other than we are so fucked.
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx: Just stop it. Don’t use that phrase again. Work to make sure that isn’t the case. Volunteer somewhere.
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus:
Maybe not the suicide hotline.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: Good point.
AxelFoley
@ Martin:
I hope so. I want them ALL to get kicked out and locked up.
Oatler.
“A gay romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden”. Wow. This won’t last a week!
sukabi
@Kropadope: an article I read said it was an Antifa sticker…anti fascist, and the fascists took offense.
willard
@sukabi: I have heard that antifa is compromised and run by the fascists
sukabi
@willard: that would make that incident a bit weirder then.