Three men were arrested after a large fight broke out in a Williamsburg grocery when a person on a hoverboard allegedly knocked items off shelves and refused to get off of the two-wheeled device when asked. Police said the fight began on June 9 when a family, one member of which was riding a hoverboard though varying accounts differed as to who was on the board, entered the Central Market at 54 Division Ave. in Williamsburg, DNAinfo reported. After one woman was knocked to the ground, her father allegedly began punching store employees. RELATED:Cops nab teen girl tied to Brooklyn McDonald’s melee “The manager’s [sic] politely asked a girl to stop riding around the supermarket with her hoverboard and leave the store,” customer Gary Schlesinger, who took video of the incident, described the incident in an online passage quoted by Gothamist. “The girl called her father who arrived minutes later and assaulted and bloodied the manager’s [sic] and yelled hateful derogatory words.” Video of the incident is graphic. Viewer discretion is advised.
Managers Abraham Spielman, 21, and Mattis Edelstein, 29, and the woman’s father, Mark Soto, 41,were arrested at the scene for their alleged involvement in the brawl, DNAinfo reported.
“[I was] just trying to stop the violence and get everybody to calm down,” Joel Banda, a passerby who heard the commotion and came inside to help, was quoted by DNAinfo. “I know [the managers]. I shop here. I was trying to help out.”
RELATED:Nightclub melee spills onto street, leaves woman shot and man stabbed
Edelstein was charged with assault and menacing, according to Gothamist, which added that Soto was charged with misdemeanor assault. Spielman was issued a desk appearance ticket for misdemeanor assault.
James Ellerby, Soto’s brother, said that the tackled woman suffered a black eye and was hospitalized after the incident, DNAinfo added.
