A Harlem restaurateur who calls himself the Harlem Gatsby faces up to a year in jail following a vicious beating inside a Manhattan bodega. Dard Coaxum, a partner at rising burger chainlet Harlem Shake[update below], was in Manhattan Criminal Court recently to defend himself in an incident that left a man with severe brain damage. The alcohol-fueled incident was caught on security cameras inside the deli, though the altercation began earlier in the evening at a Harlem club.
According to the Post, Coaxum recovered a credit card belonging to Julio Torres on the floor of Suite 308, a club that appears to have closed since the June 26th incident of last year. After returning the card to Torres, Coaxum allegedly asked for a thank-you drink, which Torres denied. After unintentionally ending up at the same bodega later that night, an allegedly "loud and obnoxious...boisterous drunk" Torres hassled Coaxum and his girlfriend, resulting in an altercation.
Coaxum "sucker-punched" Torres in the face, according to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, after which Torres called Coaxum a "punk [and] f-cking mutt" while following Coaxum and his group around in the store. Coaxum then allegedly repeatedly assaulted Torres, who continued to pursue Coaxum, leading to a final off-camera punch that knocked Torres to the ground. "[Torres] toppled over like a tree that had been chopped down, cracking his head on the pavement," according to another prosecutor.
Coaxum's defense attorney Anthony Ricco has argued in front of the jury that Coaxum tried "at least seven times" to walk away from Torres, who continued his allegedly drunken pursuit. The restaurateur faces up to a year in jail if convicted of misdemeanor-assault. Since the incident, Torres has remained unconscious; the event planner and father of a 2-year-old has been unable to speak, walk or feed himself.
Update Harlem Shake has released the following statement: "In light of the recent news regarding Harlem resident Dard Coaxum, Harlem Shake would like to clarify that Dard does not currently and has never shared in ownership or management of the restaurant. His daughter Dardra Coaxum is a silent investor who owns a small stake of the project and does not actively oversee restaurant operations."
