Last week we were sad to report that 33-year-old Michael Sapp, who was an employee of Williamsburg’s The Bagel Store, had passed away. Details are still spotty, but an eyewitness related what he saw to Gothamist. He claims that bystanders stood idly by taking pictures of Sapp instead of calling 9-11. This story just keeps getting worse:
Christopher, who did not want his last name used because he lives in the neighborhood and fears retaliation, said he was just outside of the bar with a few friends last Saturday when two men approached, stopped just outside the fence around the outdoor seating area, and one of them, skinny and bleeding profusely through his white shirt, began yelling at the bouncer to let him in…
[Sapp is] like, “I’m gonna fucking kill everybody! Where the fuck is that guy? He needs to come out here right now. I wanna fight him!” He’s screaming at everyone and he’s cussing. The security guard was like, “Dude, you should leave. You should have never came back. Why did you come back?”As [Sapp] was screaming and stuff he has blood on his shirt. throughout the entire thing the blood is spreading like he’s cut. He’s bleeding through his shirt. So I intrude sort of—I’m nosy in a way. I’m like, “Dude you’re bleeding you should leave.” And my friends are like, “Shut up, don’t get involved.”…
People outside were like, “Dude you’re ruining everything, just leave. It’s not worth it.” I swear to God, not even five minutes after that conversation, this guy flies out of the bar with four of his friends. He doesn’t say anything. He just straight up goes through the gate and knocks [Sapp] out. Beats his face in, actually. And that’s when the security runs up and grabs the guy that punched him, and is like, “Dude! What the hell? You can’t”—you know what I mean? He’s doing his job….
This guy was so scary. He comes out, and his friends are behind him. He literally just ran out and I heard [Sapp’s] nose snap and I heard his head hit the floor, that’s how hard it was. He broke his face. And then he looked at us outside and he wanted to fight us. Security was like, “You need to go.” Everyone was turning away from [the attacker]. I heard someone say, “I didn’t see anything. I don’t even know what you look like.”….
[Sapp is] on the floor, he starts coughing up blood, and he’s bleeding from his head or his mouth, and everybody pulls their cellphones out to take pictures or video of him. I was about to call 911 when security told me that an ambulance was on their way. I was like, “Is this really the world we live in?” Everyone is taking pictures. Somebody is like, “World Star Hip Hop!” I was screaming, “Put your cellphones away! Somebody roll him over!”
