Chesco man who punched, mocked a disabled man: ‘Nothing justifies what I did’
POCOPSON » At times forthright, apologetic, bewildered, concerned, and secretive, Barry Robert Baker Jr. said in an interview that he was wrong to punch a disabled man he had mocked, but insisted that he had not — as authorities allege — run from apprehension for his crime.
“I’m mad at myself,” Baker said during an interview Saturday morning at the Chester County Prison, where he is being held on charges that stem from the assault that was captured on video outside a West Chester convenience store and its aftermath, in which police across the region hunted him down as a dangerous fugitive. “I am a better person than that.
“I feel bad for him,” he said of the 22-year-old man who he struck in the face as they traded words outside the 7-11 store on South High Street. “But I lost everything. My home, my business. Everyone I talk to says this has all been blown all the way out of proportion.
“I don’t understand why this case is so sought after,” he told a reporter he had invited to talk about his predicament. “People only see the one side of the story. They haven’t seen both sides of the story. This case has become more political than criminal.”
Indeed, Baker – a 29-year-old self-employed tree service contractor with a string of often petty offenses in his background who grew up in the Downingtown-Coatesville area — has been harshly condemned on social media and in the news since the incident with the disabled man. West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn, after watching the video, labeled Baker’s actions, “appalling.”
“Every decent citizen should be outraged by the defendant’s conduct,” said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, who labeled Baker a “bully” who “picks on disabled people” at the time. He has become known as the “suckerpunch” defendant, a term he bristles at. “I’m called ‘sucker punch’ said bitterly.
Baker was charged with simple assault a short while after the incident outside the 7-Eleven on South High Street in West Chester, and turned himself in to authorities. He was scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing in late May. But when the video showing what happened was released and went viral on the Internet, police say Baker opted to abscond. Two warrants were issued for his arrest — on a probation violation and delinquent child-support charges — and police say he spent two weeks running from law enforcement’s effort to track him down, in what Hogan called “a relentless manhunt.”
He was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals at a hotel in Uwchlan on June 5 and has been held on $100,000 bail since then.
But in the prison interview, Baker denied the characterizations leveled, saying he had attended school with children who have developmental disabilities, the Child and Career Development Center, and was sensitive to their situations.
“I’m not a bully,” he said. “I never was. But I just want to get my life back. I take full responsibility for my actions. Nothing justifies what I did.”
The District Attorney’s Office, asked for comment on Baker’s remarks, declined comment. “It is a pending matter,” said First Assistant District Attorney Michael Noone Saturday. all day,” he
The interview with Baker took place in a small conference room at the prison in Pocopson, under the watch of correctional officers in a meeting area. Baker was dressed in blue sweat pants and a white T-shirt, his arms heavily tattooed. His left arm is in a sling, part of treatment for the separated shoulder he suffered in a scuffle with corrections officers in his cell on the prison’s restrictive block. (He claims one of those officers knew the victim in his case, whose name has not been publicly released.) He currently is housed in the prison’s Medical Unit.
According to the scenario laid out during the interview, Baker said he had been out at West Chester bars May 10, the night of the assault, drinking with friends. Shortly before closing at Barnaby’s West Chester, he was smoking on a back patio when he encountered the man he would eventually strike.
He said the man, who he had not known previously, was acting inappropriately around a woman called him on it.
“She said something to him, and I said to him, “Don’t do that. It’s disrespectful.”
The man Baker claims.
“Who do you think you are, Dr. Phil?” Baker said the man jeered, referring to the television personality. “I just let it go. It was right before closing, last call, and my friends and I were having a last drink. I lost my cigarettes so I walked over to the 7-Eleven to get a pack. I was heading out the door when (the victim) pulled in.”
This is the moment captured on the store’s surveillance video, from behind Baker and over his shoulder. The scene is clear, but there is no audio and the victim’s face is obscured, making it impossible to tell whether he engaged Baker.
“He was running his mouth, and said, ‘Oh, look, it’s Dr. Phil again.’ I imitated how he walked, which was wrong of course.” Baker and fired he back,
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