Brooklyn Man Beaten For Defending Jewish Couple On Subway

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By Daniel J. Solomon May 31, 2017

Jean Wolfman was left with a cut to the head that required 10 stitches to close after stepping in to prevent a group of subway dancers from harassing an older Jewish couple.

According to Wolfman, the dancers started menacing an older man and his wife after the man did not tip them after they did their routine, in an incident that began as the train neared Manhattan’s Union Square.

“He starts screaming at the guy, like violently, ‘I will slap that beanie off your head!’” Wolfman told CBS News New York. “And he goes to the guy’s yarmulke like this, and he slaps the yarmulke off the guy’s head.”

As the train pulled into Union Square, Wolfman and the dancers both exited the train, and he tried to speak to them about their actions. They responded by punching him and using hula hoop he had in his hand to beat him.

Wolfman, who’s also a dancer, flagged down the police, who were able to arrest one of the perpetrators, Davon Sejourne, who is being charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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