Masseur bloodies co-worker in Queens brawl
A PAIR OF Queens masseurs both got their hands dirty in a one-sided fight over a customer.
One of the hands-on pair is wanted by police for sucker-punching his colleague in a July 19 argument over the victim’s poaching of a client at their Flushing spa, police said.
And the bloodied recipient of the beating apparently fled the United States after trying to extort his attacker in the assault captured on videotape.
Neither of the part-time employees ever returned to the business at Roosevelt Ave. near Main St. after their violent confrontation, according to the spa manager — who gave his name only as Mr. Chen.
The aggressor, known only to his colleagues as Charlie, flew into a violent rage after accusing his coworker of poaching a massage client at the New World Mall in Flushing, police said.
Shocking surveillance video released by police Wednesday shows Charlie sucker-punching the victim as the man sat on a bench looking at his cell phone.
After delivering the first punch, Charlie snatched a metal mug sitting atop a nearby refrigerator and bashed it over the victim’s head four times before the cup fell to the floor. As another employee tried to restrain him, the enraged masseur continued the assault with a vicious series of punches and uppercuts to the face as the victim tried to cover his head with his right arm.
By the end of the beating, the victim’s right hand was covered with blood from a cut to his head.
Mr. Chen said he took the bloodied victim for treatment of minor injuries at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens.
It’s unclear if the video will produce any arrests, as the spa manager claims the victim went back to his native China after trying to extort his assailant for $30,000.
“He told Charlie, ‘If you give me money, I won’t call police,’” said the spa manager.
Charlie is described as Asian, 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds with a slim build, light complexion, black hair and brown eyes. He wears glasses with black frames.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.