Brooklyn banker punches woman in face in Park Slope incident caught on video – NBC New York

In a shocking video viewed millions of times online, a man in Brooklyn can be seen punching a woman in the face after claiming her group poured liquid on him.

Now the woman who was hit is telling her side of the story to NBC New York after the incident sparked outrage in the neighborhood and across the city.

The attack in Park Slope was captured on cell phone video, but the video does not show what happened before the blow itself.

“He was literally a tornado of violence,” Micah P., the woman who took the hit, told NBC New York exclusively.

The incident occurred at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Third Street, hours after the annual Brooklyn Pride Parade ended. The video shows the man throwing the punch that knocked Micah to the ground.

The man was identified by his employer as Jonathan Kaye, who works at global investment bank Moelis. Kaye is said to live in the neighborhood.

After he strikes, Kaye walks away, telling viewers, “She threw something at me.” The back of his jacket appeared to be wet.

The 10-second video, which has been viewed 14 million times online, does not show what led to the fight.

Micah told NBC New York that the interaction began when Kaye passed her group of friends outside a cafe who were waiting for other friends after a day at the Pride Festival.

“We heard him say, ‘What a bunch of useful idiots,'” Micah said. “He was about halfway down the block and I turned around and said, ‘What did you say?’ He turned back around and charged at us … and as he was coming at us, I had a bottle of water. I just splashed it away as if to say, ‘Get away from us, you know.'”

Then chaos broke out, according to Micah, who said Kaye pushed several people out of the group.

“One of our other friends said, ‘Get off them!’ He jumped up and ran after the person, she slipped off her vest to get away and he fell trying to chase her,” Micah told News 4. “He fell face first on the concrete, scraped his ankle and jumped up. A person he was pushing said, ‘Are you OK?’ He jumped up and pushed another person. They hurt their arm and then he turned around and that’s the video where you see him hitting me.”

Micah P. suffered a broken nose.

NBC New York reached out to Kaye several times on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Moelis said, “We are aware that one of our employees was involved in a serious incident in Brooklyn on June 8. We are taking this matter very seriously and this employee is on leave while we continue our investigation.” The spokesperson confirmed that the employee her statement refers to is Kaye.

On Monday afternoon, News 4 received an email from a person who said they were in charge of communications for Kaye. The email referenced a Daily Mail article that described the group as the attacker, noting that anti-Semitic slurs were used, that he was thrown liquids and that Kaye escaped with a bloody ankle.

“There were no insults,” Micah said. “We didn’t even have a chance to understand him. He was angry and scary. He was a big, strange man who ran towards us and almost immediately started hitting us. There was no conversation.”

The NYPD is aware of the video but does not have a report of the incident on file. Micah P. said she does not trust the police and does not plan to file a report. She told NBC New York she does not want Kaye arrested.

“I want this man to be held accountable for the harm he has caused to his community and to members of my circle of friends. I want him to be a better person after this. I want him to get anger management therapy, therapy,” she said. “I want him to stay out of a position of power until he can be a better member of the community.”