EXCLUSIVE: Street vendor turf war leads to brawl in Lower Manhattan
FINANCIAL DISTRICT, Manhattan (WABC) -- There is no more scuffle in the heart of the Financial District. Instead, in video obtained exclusively by Eyewitness News shows a battle for supremacy among dueling food vendors on Wall Street.
Watch the exclusive video here:
When the battle was over, Mohammad Uddin was in a coma.
"He's very, very terrible. And he has four kids. He got four children," said Uddin's bother, Mohammad Pasha.
Pasha spent the last day and a half by his bedside. Doctors say it doesn't look good.
"He works only supporting his family. Now I don't know," adds Pasha.
Josh Einiger was live at the scene:
Pasha says he owns the cart, and that his brother works for him. He says that they have worked the same spot in front of 40 Wall Street every weekend for years, but lately Sameh Amer has been closing in on his turf.
"He was touching me first," Amer said.
On Sunday, Amer told Eyewitness News reporter CeFaan Kim that it is him in the video, but Amer tells a different story, insisting that the brothers are the aggressors. He claims this restraining order is against one of their friends for harassing him.
"I called the cops - he came with the phone. I drop the phone from my hand, and two guys come and hit me. I've got to defend myself," he says.
However, officers arrested Amer anyway. He has been charged with assault as Uddin, a father of four and his family's sole breadwinner, fights or his life.
