A video which was briefly uploaded to social media but later removed, showed an emotionally disturbed man brawling with half a dozen people along a busy East Fordham Road, close to Jerome Avenue on Jun. 1, a few hours before dozens of looters destroyed stores and removed property from the popular shopping district.

According to NYPD, the video was shot on the afternoon of Jun. 1 and began with the man, dressed only in a pair of white socks, crossing East Fordham Road. Another man in a red and black jacket walked up behind him and struck him in the head. A shocked crowd watched as the incident unfolded, some pulling out cellphones to film it. The man continued crossing the street and later pushed another man when he reached the other side.

He then got into a series of scuffles with a number of other people. It was not clear if he knew the people or not. He fell to the ground at one point and was kicked by one angry man before getting back onto his feet. The scuffles continued for several minutes between Morris Avenue and Jerome Avenue.

At the end of the video, the man was seen staggering and seemed to lose his balance. At the same moment, he was pushed onto a parked vehicle by another person. He then fell to the ground as the parked vehicle sped off.

According to reports from bystanders, though not captured on the uploaded video, the man later crossed Jerome Avenue onto West Fordham Road. Detective Sophia Mason of the NYPD later said, “This incident occurred on Jun. 1, 2020 at approximately 3:30 p.m. A 911 call was made for an emotionally disturbed individual on West Fordham Road within the confines of the 52nd precinct.”

Mason said that the unidentified 28-year-old man was not seriously injured and he was transported by EMS to St. Barnabas Hospital for psychological evaluation. No other injuries were reported.

Stores like Perfumia and Easy Pickins, where parts of the brawl took place, were still closed on the day in question due to the statewide PAUSE order, but one worker at Capy said of the incident, “Yes, we heard about it and we saw it on the video. We were here [in the store] that day, but we just saw the people that were outside, but we didn’t really pay too much attention to it. But the next day we saw the video on social media.”

One business owner of Sight N Style Optical did not witness the incident but said, “I work at Fordham and Jerome, and a whole bunch of crazy stuff like that happens here everyday. Yeah, there was just a car crash the other day, right into my store. There were people hurt, but thank God no one from my store was hurt.”

The owner continued, “We had a little damage but nothing serious, but the food truck fell and an old woman inside the food truck was injured when boiling coffee spilled all over her. But there have been multiple times when naked men have run around here.”

Asked how business was doing, the owner replied, “Yes, it’s crazy in here. It’s packed. The other day too, a guy ran in here and took a mirror and ran out and got hit by a car. It’s ridiculous.”