Metro

Good Samaritan offered to spot diners cash, then they went ‘ballistic’

A disabled Brooklyn man kindly offered a couple of bucks to two diners who were short of cash at an eatery — and received a beating with his own cane as thanks, cops and the victim said Wednesday.

Then, as the good Samaritan was writhing in pain on the ground, another thug came over and rifled through his pockets.

The whole attack went down in front of other customers, one of whom was seen checking her cellphone and stepping over his body. The still bruised and battered victim, Joseph Molohon, 37, whose assault was caught on surveillance video, said he only had one question for his attackers.

Why?

“That night, I’d gone to pick up money from [Social Security] and then sat down to have dinner,” Molohon, who said he suffers from multiple sclerosis and HIV, recalled of the March 1 incident at Texas Chicken and Burgers in Flatbush.





He said he had $1,000 cash in his pocket, so when he overheard two men complain they didn’t have enough money to buy the food they wanted, he offered to help out.

“I help everybody. I help people with cigarettes. If they ask me for money, I’ll give them a dollar or two. I’m a really nice person. I’m a country boy,” the Illinois native said.

But his offer only served to anger the men, one of whom came over to his table and “went ballistic,” he said.

“He started saying stuff like, ‘Why are you talking to me?’ Then he took my cane, which was leaning on the table, and hit me over the head. The next thing I knew I was on the floor.”





But his offer only served to anger the men, he said, one of whom came over to his table and “went ballistic.

“He started saying stuff like, ‘Why are you talking to me?’ Then he took my cane, which was leaning on the table, and hit me over the head. The next thing I knew I was on the floor.”

The video shows Molohon being smacked down by two guys and then two more men who came in, adding their own kicks and punches.

After all four attackers fled, a fifth man came into the restaurant and rifled through his pockets, Molohon and police said.

Luckily, his cash was in a back pocket, out of the thief’s grasp.

Molohon, who moved to New York 14 years ago, said his injuries included a gash on his head and a fractured left cheekbone.





He said because the attackers are still at large, he’s afraid to leave his apartment.

“It was really nasty what they did to me. They didn’t have to do anything of that nature to me,” he said.

“If they didn’t want the money, OK, fine. That would have been that. Why did you have to beat me up? What was the reason for that?”

Police are asking anyone with information on the incident to contact Crime Stoppers by calling (800) 577-TIPS, logging on to their Web site at www.NYPDCrimeStoppers.com, or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577.

Tips can remain anonymous.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Linda Massarella





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