An ode to surveillance cameras: Capturing street (lobby) fights and New York indifference
I realize many people are perturbed by the proliferation of cameras and the idea of our being watched all the time. It’s an especially big deal in New York these days, thanks to the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, which will join together over 3,000 public and private security cameras into one big feed, monitored 24-hours-a-day by the NYPD.
I’m really not all that bothered by such things, as long as none of the cameras is aimed into my bedroom. Cameras can theoretically be great tools to reconstruct events, identify criminals, and prevent criminal activity. They can also capture some great moments, such as this one, caught on a camera in lower Manhattan, and reported on Above The Law today.
So what’s the story? If you are unlike the doorman or the New Yorkers who enter the lobby at the 1:10 mark and you actually care, find out after the jump.
The man in red is named Stephen; he’s a Korean American attorney who lives in New York City’s Financial District. He has training in mixed martial arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. According to Angry Asian Man, he was attacked two months ago on the street. Here’s what he wrote to the blog:
I was out getting some ice cream late at night at the corner store when I was approached by a big drunk guy who asked me if I was Korean. He went on to tell me that his wife is Korean so he “knows all about Koreans”. I tried to humor him and nod but he started getting offensive saying that Koreans get pushed around all the time but never fight back. Then he started telling me all Korean parents are insane.
At that point, I told him I didn’t want to continue talking to him and left the store. He followed me out onto a dark street off of Wall Street and started getting in my face. I told him to take a step back and he socked me in the face. I used to box in college so I responded with a pretty brutal set of punches that put him on the ground and told him the fight was over.
As I walked away, he got up and followed me into my apartment building at 63 Wall Street. I tried to get the doorman to call the police but he refused because apparently the guy lives in the building. The drunk guy then came at me again and hit me in the mouth, breaking one of my front teeth off, and called me a chink. We ended up fighting on the ground where I subdued him using Brazilian Jiujutsu and MMA. I held him in a chokehold and told him I’d kill him before the police arrive if he didn’t stop struggling and clawing at my eyes.
via angry asian man.
The prosecutor working on the case recently gave Stephen this video from the surveillance camera.
Stephen is well-equipped to fight his battles in building lobbies, in courtrooms, and online. He’s delivering a digital jiu-jitsu move by having uploaded the video to YouTube, where it’s sure to go viral and demonize his attacker. Here’s what Stephen says in his YouTube profile:
Some crazy drunk guy attacked me on Wall Street late at night. He threw a punch at me so I punched him down to the ground in self defense. He followed me back to my building and attacked me again inside, which is caught on tape. I used BJJ to neutralize him until the police came. There are about 6 seconds missing due to the apartment building’s crappy copying where I ground and pounded him. Very bloody, but you can’t see it from the video. Big shout out to Anderson’s Martial Arts Academy in NYC where I train! Compared to my training partners, this guy was easy pickins’. FYI, I’m 5′6” 180 lbs and this guy was like 6 foot and 210 lbs. In addition to being an MMA enthusiast, I’m also an attorney. Bad luck for him.
If nothing else, this is a really good advertisement for Anderson’s, and much more convincing than their website, which has photos like the one at right. These dudes don’t look especially “kickass,” though their shorts are definitely scary.
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I can’t help wondering if the doorman or the other people in the building would have acted differently if it was a large black man choke holding a white guy on the ground. Would the police have immediately accepted the victor’s story if he was black instead of Korean?
I think they would have acted the same, I hope they would have acted the same, but I’m not sure I would bet my own money on the same outcome.
Wow, this guy sure does talk himself up quite a bit. Yay, you beat up a drunk guy,”There are about 6 seconds missing due to the apartment building’s crappy copying where I ground and pounded him. Very bloody, but you can’t see it from the video.” Sure, buddy. From the looks of his grappling skills on the video, he’s probably a 4 or 5 month white belt at Anderson’s.
[...] Korean American attorney goes out for ice cream. Subjected to attack and racial slurs from drunk guy…trueslant.com [...]
Was any attempt made to contact the other party involved? All I see is a street fight in a building — it’s very difficult to see who is at fault, particularly without the audio. In fact, I noticed the lawyer seems to issue a challenge right at the start, and then later after the cuts, touch/push the other man first. Given the bombastic nature of the writers comments as pointed out by Marc above, I wonder what is actually missing from those seconds.
If they both lived in the building, its very possible the lawyer misinterpreted the other man simply coming home, as being followed for a continuation of the incident — once the doorman explained he lived in the building, the reasonable belief the “drunk” intended him harm might disappear, especially given the “drunk” putting his hands out defensively and backing into the corner.
On the subject of the doorman intervening, he would expose himself and the building to liability, particularly since he did not see anything before hand outside. As soon as the fight actually begins, he reacts immediately. Without the audio, we do not was said to the bypassers. Something such as “the police will be here any moment” would certainly explain their reactions, and/or common sense about not becoming legally liable themselves. A situation like that is very hard to interpret, particularly when young bankers, lawyers, and others are often very drunk and coming back late at night. Who knows if the fight is serious? Who knows who has a weapon, etc?
More importantly, I don’t understand why a lawyer would actually post all of this, and a letter in which he admits to threatening to kill someone he had no legal right to harm to that extent to a blog called angry asian man. It seems foolish to me. I don’t see that this video conclusively decides fault, and the wording of the letter would only seem to provide ammunition to a defense that the lawyer was in fact the aggressor.
I don’t know anything about this case, and it may be just as the lawyer claims, but I just wanted to add some conjectures given that the article is completely one sided and offers no response from the other party, or even mention of an attempt to get in touch with the other party, who’s identity I’m sure there is a public record of, while the video is pretty decidedly vague in actual evidence.
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