ATTACK’S DUELING CLAIMS
Cane basher, vic say other used N-word
A homeless man accused of clubbing a septuagenarian Brooklyn resident with a metal cane claimed he did it because the victim was throwing out his belongings and called him the N-word.
Ray Daniel, 62, a Black man who lives on the street, was arrested for the Wednesday smackdown on Sixth St. near Fourth Ave. in Park Slope in which he is accused of beating David Simonoff, 73, who is white, with a metal walking stick so severely that Simonoff was hospitalized and required five stitches to his head and 10 to his hand.
Speaking with the Daily News on Thursday, both men offered conflicting accounts of the encounter — with both alleging the other is racist.
Daniel claimed that Simonoff, who is known for cleaning up the Park Slope streets in his spare time, has referred to some of the Black homeless men who live in the area as “n——-s.” In the Wednesday incident, Daniel said that Simonoff was throwing out some of Daniel’s belongings that he keeps in two shopping carts, and that when Daniel confronted him, Simonoff spit on him.
“He always bothers all the Blacks and especially me,” said Daniel. “He spit on me, man. I just grabbed the cane and hit him. I just wanted him to get the hell away from me. I didn’t mean to hurt him. I just ain’t with this racism shit. I just tried to scare him away.”
Simonoff said it was possible he tossed some of Daniel’s things, but did it unintentionally.
“I have no idea. I maybe [was], but in that case, he should have said something. Maybe I did by accident, it was definitely not on purpose,” Simonoff, with bandagesandages on his head and hands, told The News in an interview. “But did he have to hit me like that?”
Simonoff claimed it was Daniel who called him the N-word.
“He’s not, as far as I’m concerned, a nice person. He’s called me a white n——r. I don’t think nice guys do things like that, no matter how angry they get.
“I was picking up some trash, and then I saw him coming from Fourth Ave. to Third Ave.,” he said. “He says ‘What are you doing around here?’ or something like that. He came close to me and he hit me on the head with this metal cane. Luckily, I didn’t pass out.”
Daniel gave his own version of what led up to the caning.
“He broke a chair of mine and took my blankets. Then I said something to him and he spit at me,” Daniel said. “He don’t mess with nobody else.
He wants to throw my clothes, whatever I got in the cart, away. And he’s got a home. Why he gotta come over here and try to clean up? That’s for the city to do.”
Daniel admitted that Simonoff took the beating like a champ.
“He’s a tough old cookie,” Daniel said.
A Brooklyn judge ordered Daniel to stay away from Simonoff, who resides about a block from where Daniel lives on the street. The judge rejected Brooklyn prosecutors request to set bail in Daniel’s case at $7,500, instead releasing him without bail.
Daniel, who plans to return to the scene of the incident, said he wants to avoid Simonoff.
“I’m going to stay away from him. If I see him come, I’m going to go my way. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to call NYPD on him,” Daniel said.