49°
“You entitled, right?” the woman, who’s white, screeches at the black driver whose Jeep is blocking her sedan in the Garden State Plaza parking garage in Paramus.
“Cause white people hate black people, right?” the woman says. “Shut the f**k up and move. It ain’t got nothin’ to do with color. Move, motherf**ker!!”
The woman gets back in her car, reverses a few inches, then is instantly out again.
She approaches the other driver as he stands outside his Jeep. Then she gets up in his face.
She reaches toward him and he gives her a Will Smith-like smack. She drops straight down between the two vehicles, out cold.
A cellphone-recorded video that shows a portion of the Jan. 14 incident has been making its way across social media. Reactions have included anger, rage, disbelief, cynicism – and blame.
Some say the victim asked for it. Others say a man doesn’t put his hands on a woman at any time for any reason.
She wasn’t the only victim, though.
In the video, onlookers and others converge on the spot where she was flattened. Someone in a white jacket and wearing his pants well below his butt reaches in and snatches something from her.
A Good Samaritan rushes in, trying to protect the victim from further harm. Then a police officer arrives.
The Jeep driver tries to explain what happened. He reaches into the vehicle to get his paperwork. Then another officer arrives.
The Good Samaritan leaves with his family. The onlookers are gone, too. The two police officers are left with both drivers -- one senseless, the other still arguing his case.
Suddenly, two rows over, the departed onlookers jump the Good Samaritan.
An officer and security guards rush toward the attackers. The guy in the droopy pants is among those punching and kicking the prone victim. The police and guards end up struggling to free the victim.
Officials at Westfield Garden State Plaza didn’t have an immediate response after the video surfaced in the middle of the week. Paramus police said inquiries about possible arrests must wait until Monday because of the religious holiday weekend.
No one comes out clean from the incident, except perhaps the police officers, security guards and the Good Samaritan, all of whom risked their own safety to protect others.
(WARNING: This video contains violence and profanity:)
“Since f'ing when is it just ok for people to think they can just do as they please? Because there is little to no repercussion/punishment,” one woman commented. “I hate this world today, sorry. People are gross and just suck.”
“That girl who got knocked out was an obnoxious person! Why is she confronting anyone like that,” another wrote. “For the guy it’s super hard to hold in feelings of rage when someone is in your face. I understand his side, but he was wrong. She was wrong, but he was very wrong."
Either driver could’ve avoided everything by simply calling the police, many said.
“Some people don’t wanna call the police…doesn’t mean that men can just go around hitting women bc they’re gettin yelled at,” one said. “Be f**king better.”
One writer angered others by writing: “You can’t approach ppl in this day an[d] age like you wanna fight and then get knock[ed] out and play victim. He didn’t know what she had. What if she had a gun and shot him dead, then what?
“She could have easily call[ed] the police if she was in danger, but she didn’t. She chose violence. She has to take accountability [for] her actions. She did violate his personal space. And it was in a threatening manner. He has a right to defend himself.”
That didn’t sit well with many.
“What kind of validation must you need as a man to feel so threatened by someone who’s half your size to full-on punch them in the mouth like that???” one commenter responded. “Just because she approached someone angrily doesn’t give anyone the right to bug out like that on a female. He snuck her ….”
“Both could’ve avoided the situation,” another said. “The guy should’ve had the decency to move out of the way if he saw she was trying to get out and he was in the way.”
Then again, the woman “chose to cause a scene and step to someone she shouldn’t have," she noted, "and that’s why she got knocked out.”
“Once he put his hands on her, the conversation ends,” another responded. “Doesn’t matter what could have been done. She was physically assaulted.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Comment here: Daily Voice Bergen County (FACEBOOK)
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hamilton Township and receive free news updates.
