A 42-year-old art gallery owner said that a group of 15 or so teens assaulted him in Chinatown on Tuesday because he was wearing a “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hat. Jahangir “John” Turan said that he purchased the hat at Trump Tower on the same day.
According to Fox 5 NY, the New Jersey resident said he was “jumped” by a group of about 15-18 individuals he referred to as “kids.” He said they were yelling “fuck Trump” and attacked him because he was wearing a MAGA hat. Turan said that one of them “bashed” his head into a metal scaffolding pole, which resulted in a cheek fracture and the black eye you can see on his face in the video above.
It’s not yet clear if lasting damage was done to his eye. Turan said it was “sad” that he was assaulted for wearing the MAGA hat.
“This is America,” he said. “I love President Trump. I think he’s doing a great job.” The alleged attack occurred around 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Turan said that he couldn’t identify the suspects in great detail because all of this unfolded in about 10 seconds.
“One girl flipped my hat, and then within five, eight seconds, I got pushed from the back and my face hit the scaffolding pole,” he said, according to CBS New York.
Turan said he called police after the alleged assault. NYPD is investigating.
[Image via Fox 5 screengrab]
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