Geekadelphia Editor Tries to Stop Domestic Assault, Gets Assaulted

Mikey Ilagan tried to do the right thing.

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On Sunday night, Geekadelphia editor-in-chief Michaelangelo “Mikey” Ilagan was walking home in South Philadelphia when he encountered a man and a woman arguing. A few minutes later, this is what his face looked like.

Ilagan, a St. Joe’s Prep and Art Institute grad, encountered the pair at the corner of Sixth and Morris in front of Cambodian restaurant Khmer Kitchen.

“He was grabbing at her and she was yelling,” says Ilagan. “And then he put her in a headlock.”

That’s when he Ilagan decided to get involved.

“I said, ‘Everything OK here?'” Ilagan remembers. “And he tells me, ‘It’s fine, it’s fine.’ So I ask, ‘Why do you have her in a headlock?’ Actually, I may have said, ‘So why the fuck are you doing that?’ His only excuse was, ‘It’s fine. She’s my wife.’ And he also said, ‘She’s making too much noise.'”

At some point, Ilagan got between the two of them and managed to hold the man back with his arms around his chest.

“I told her to get away, but she wouldn’t leave,” says Ilagan. “‘Why are you not leaving?’ I asked her. But she just wouldn’t leave.”

Ilagan called 911 and continued walking home. When he rounded the corner at 6th and Mountain streets, he heard commotion behind him. It was the man and a friend.

“He asked me if I called the cops, and I said yes,” he says. “And that was responded to with a punch. Then the other guy grabbed and held me, and I started screaming for help. And then they worked me over pretty good.”

The men ran away, and he called 911 again to report his own assault. Police are investigating.

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