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Brooklyn Man: Showtime Dancers Beat Me With My Own Hula Hoop
By
Nathan Tempey
Published May 30, 2017
Modified May 30, 2017
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By
Nathan Tempey
Published May 30, 2017
Modified May 30, 2017
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A Brooklyn man says that a crew of subway dancers beat him with his own hula hoop on Sunday afternoon when he tried to get between them and an elderly couple they were harassing.
The self-proclaimed good Samaritan, Jean Loup Wolfman, told CBS2 that when the showtime dancers finished their routine late in the afternoon, one fixated on a man for not tipping them.
"He starts screaming at the guy, like violently, 'I will slap that beanie off your head!'" Wolfman recalled. "And he goes to the guy's yarmulke like this, and he slaps the yarmulke off the guy's head."
Wolfman says he told the dancer to calm down, and that the group got off the train with him at Union Square. He told the guys he was a dancer himself, and gave them a tip, but they weren't having it, according to his account. One of the men allegedly menaced Wolfman, running at him as if he was going to punch him. Wolfman says he responded by pulling out his hula hoop and challenging them to a dance-off.
"He started hitting me with the hula hoop and stuff, and at that point, I just started screaming for the police," he said.
Wolfman recounted being punched in the face, and having his guitar thrown down the subway station stairs. When he thought the dust had settled, one of the men purportedly ran up from behind and punched him again. Wolfman flagged down cops at the stop's transit police substation, and officers managed to catch at least one of the suspected attackers.
An NYPD spokeswoman said she had no record of the hula hoop, but that officers arrested Davon Sejourne, a 19-year-old from Canarsie's Bay View Houses. He is being charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment, and has open cases for smoking weed in public and missing a court date for a disorderly conduct violation, court records show. Wolfman was not driven to the hospital by ambulance, according to police, but he suffered a head wound that required 10 staples to close, according to CBS.
Wolfman said that despite his troubles, he hopes that people take this message away from his ordeal: "“Don’t be afraid to get involved and stand up for your fellow New Yorkers."
A judge released Sejourne without bail on Monday. A Legal Aid spokeswoman did not immediately make Sejourne's lawyer available for comment.
Tagged
assault
good samaritan
harassment
hula hoop
nypd
showtime
street performers
tipping
transit police
union square
Nathan Tempey
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