Man who knocked out a 'ranting and racist' New York drinker claiming he was Goldman Sachs employee tried to HELP him at first



It has emerged that the African American man who critically injured a drunk white man with one punch at a Manhattan restaurant initially tried to help him.

Douglas Reddish, 25, was eating with his girlfriend at Benny's Burritos in the city's West Village neighborhood when a worse-for-wear Austin Dewan, 31, stumbled into their table on the sidewalk.

Witnesses said that Reddish jumped up to help the visibly inebriated Dewan, but when he slurred out 'This n***** wants to fight me', Reddish lost control and punched him.

Knockout punch: A well-dressed white man in his 30s was punched in the face in the West Village after he was heard hurling racist abuse at a black couple dining in an outdoor cafe

Dewan fell backwards with such force from the blow that he hit his head on the sidewalk's concrete curb causing him to be knocked-out with blood pouring from a wound on his head.

'He was out cold. I thought he was dead,' said Benny’s worker Robert Garcia to the New York Post.

Witnesses also described how Reddish was so incensed by Dewan that he went in to hit him again, but was held back by the employees of the popular restaurant.

After realizing the state that Dewan was in, Reddish fled the scene - leaving his girlfriend at the restaurant.

Provoked: Douglas Reddish, 25, was eating with his girlfriend at Benny's Burritos in the city's West Village neighborhood when a worse-for-wear Austin Dewan, 31, stumbled into their table on the sidewalk

Dinnertime fracas: The altercation took place at Benny's Burrito on Greenwich Avenue in the West Village

He was picked up by police just blocks away and they charged him with misdemeanor assault, which has could lead to a year in prison.

Reddish attended his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on Saturday evening and was released without bail.

Aftermath: The man was taken to Beth Israel Medical Center in critical condition

It also emerged that before his allegedly racist comment, Dewan had drunk $40 in beers at the Village Den on West 12th - the manager told the New York Post that he was already drunk when he walked in.

After leaving the bar, Dewan apparently walked to Equinox Gym, where a commerical was being filmed and tried to sit on women's laps.

Then he walked across to Johnny's Bar and stumbled into the arms of a woman smoking on the sidewalk and began to cry about his wife leaving him and losing 'his job at Goldman Sachs'.

He asked for help from the woman to call a friend on his own cellphone and asked her to 'tell me things about myself that make me feel better?'

It was a short time afterwards that Dewan fell onto Reddish's table and spewed racist abuse.

At one point, witnesses told the New York Daily News that the man said: 'You n*****s are why I lost my job.' Witnesses earlier said he claimed to have recently lost a job at Goldman Sachs although the bank denied any record of his employment.

Another source told the Post that the unnamed man was also heard saying in reference to Reddish, 'This n****r wants to fight me!'.

In response, police say the 25-year-old diner punched the insolent man in the face, causing his to fall backwards and hit his head on the concrete curb.

Photos taken by eyewitnesses show the knocked-out man dressed in a button-down shirt and jeans lying supine on the pavement, with blood trickling from his skull.

‘He was out cold. I thought he was dead,’ Benny’s employee Robert Garcia told the Post.