Bartender Attacked in West Village

A bartender at Monster in the West Village was beaten by a group of men on Saturday night. The police are investigating whether it was a bias crime, since the men yelled,
"C'mon f----t! Learn how to walk, [expletive]!" Kyle Spidle, an aspiring actor, was crossing Grove Street at Waverly when the a black Acura entered the crosswalk. According to the reports, "as a reflex," Spidle hit the hood of the car and yelled "learn how to drive!", which enraged the driver and passengers. Spidle ran away, but the group caught up and hit and punched him, leaving him with a broken jaw, cheekbone, nose, and fractures around his right eye. One of the two men arrested is a Department of Sanitation worker, while a third man is still at large.

Yikes. Spidle did what most New York pedestrians might do - get angry at drivers (we've done it, we admit). It isn't advisable, of course, but in this city of bad drivers, it does happen. But this is a terrible reminder that we have to be defensive when we walk and we should just ignore the stupidity of drivers when possible.

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By Jen Chung in News on November 8, 2005 9:24 AM

Comments [rss]

huh?

What was that?

"C'mon faucet!"

"C'mon ferret!"

"C'mon fillet!"

"C'mon Forest!"

B

Thanks, Boots. I desperately needed that laugh.

Frank the Flower

I agree with Boots. Everyone should read The Pushcart War for more on how cars ruin cities.

Boots

Cars ruin cities. Pedestrians can ruin cars. I do it all the time. If more people did it, cities would be better places, with fewer, more dented cars.

aim

Being in a crosswalk doesn't equate krytonite. If you are jaywalking, you are responsible for your own well being as well as the drivers'. To say that drivers should yield to pedestrians while they're in a crosswalk at all times is ridiculous. What's the point of having traffic lights? Might as well declare martial law then.

brian

Drivers are supposed to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. Remember, when you're driving, it's 2 tons of moving steel versus flesh and bones. No slam on the hood equals the danger Spidle was already facing from these guys.

Endangering human lives with tons of metal then beating the shit out of someone versus trying to cross a street at a crosswalk--I'd say the moral high ground is pretty easy to spot in this one.

MT

Aim does bring up a good point. If pedestrians expect cars to follow the rules, they should follow the rules as well. From now on cars will stay out of cross walks and pedestrians will stay out of the middle of the street and only cross with the light inside the crosswalks. Since that ain't likely to happen, I don't think anyone has the moral highground on this issue folks.

rev pays

I suppose banging the dent out from a hit and run victim costs less than $300?

oh the days when I would light up a sunflower on the hood of a car.

Samantha T

Drivers in NYC are really dangerous and I can't say I blame pedestrians for getting fed up. Driving like a psycho shows complete disregard for personal safety and it's offensive. Hitting somebody's car is *not* analogous to slapping somebody in the face - one is property, one is your body. They're treated differently under the law for a reason.

Ace

of course he was justified in banging on the hood. Good lord this was the operator of a motor vehicle ignoring a traffic law and imperiling pedestrians.

smitty

I was in the crosswalk at Broome and Green or so, when a blue sporty car entered the crosswalk nearly taking me out. When I rolled my eyes (seriously, that's all I did), the driver of the car started yelling at me at the TOP OF HIS LUNGS, cursing at me with all sorts of expletives, continuing until I was at least two blocks away and couldn't hear him. It was so frightening that I ran around the corner into a store.

There are some seriously mentally insane people out there.

aim

You can't go around banging people's cars because you feel that they've put you in danger. It's almost saying that it's ok for a driver to get out of their car and slap an irresponsible jaywalker across the face. Also the police are so fast in judging it a "bias attack". It was wrong for the man to be attacked, but if he hadn't bang their car, I'd doubt that they would have gotten out of the car to beat him up. Chill everyone!!!

MT

While he didn't deserve to be chased down and beaten, I think it's really obnoxious to hit the hood of someone's car. (One dent in the hood basically equals $300 in damage for those non car owners out there - no they can't 'bang that out.') Why not just stick with the traditional New York method of resolving run-ins like this and flip each other off? It will save your face and my car.