An unidentified White man was rushed to the hospital Friday with a massive head injury after allegedly calling a Black man a racial slur at a Manhattan restaurant, the New York Daily News reports.
The altercation took place at Benny's Burritos in the West Village neighborhood around 5:30 p.m. when a White man approached a Black patron in the outdoor seating area. Douglas Reddish, 25, was eating with his girlfriend when then man, who was reportedly drunk, stumbled to his table, according to the New York Post.
Reddish reportedly tried to help the man regain his balance before he allegedly said, “This ni*ger wants to fight me!” Reddish did not take the insult well, knocking the man out cold with a blow to the face. The man fell backwards onto the concrete.
“He was out cold. I thought he was dead,” said Benny’s worker Robert Garcia.
Reddish tried to attack the man again, but restaurant employees restrained him. Once Reddish realized the man was seriously injured, cops say he fled the scene; he was eventually tracked down, arrested and charged with assault.
A woman who spoke with the man before he was KO'd says he was upset over his wife leaving him and losing his job at Goldman Sachs.
Witnesses heard the man say, “You n-----s are why I lost my job.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” one witness said. “He mentioned the N-word, this guy hits him one time and he hits his head on the curb.”
The man was taken to Beth Israel Hospital. His status is not known at this time.
