A reader sent in a disturbing account of a visit yesterday afternoon to the Court Street Barnes & Noble. While she was on the second floor, she noticed a large number of teens she believes were from one of the nearby public schools. In addition to being loud and disorderly, they were also purposefully knocking books off shelves. A few minutes later, as she headed down to the first floor, she witnessed an altercation between the manager and one of the teenagers. The manager had asked him to leave the store. “You disrespectin’ me?” the teen shouted back. No, that’s why I’m asking you nicely to leave, but you need to leave, reiterated the manager. Then, wham, the teen wound up and socked the manager in the face, bloodying him and knocking him over, and took off down the street. Rather than stick around to help i.d. the assailant, whom our tipster overheard some of the kids saying they knew where he lived, the rest of them took off as well. No word on whether the cops caught the guy. Update: Turns out that someone did call the cops and they came very quickly, but the assailant had already fled.
Photo by joearchitect