New York Daily News

BY SHAYNA JACOBS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013, 8:01 PM

JEFFERSON SIEGEL

Sherif Rizk (left), aka Sharif Rizk, appears in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday with Hatem Farsakh, both of whom are charged with attempted murder and gang assault in attack on Kevin McCarron.
A racist insult sparked the savage Greenwich Village beatdown of a 24-year-old Massachusetts man outside a pizza shop, said one of the alleged assailants.

"Everything started when they call us f-----g Arab," Hatem Farsakh told detectives on Jan. 14, according to statements filed with court papers at his arraignment Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court with one of the other five guys allegedly involved in the attack.

The group allegedly pummeled the out-of-towner with a bat, tire iron and club to near death in the middle of MacDougal Street as horrified onlookers watched.

Prosecutors have at least five videos of the attack. Four were from businesses on MacDougal St. including Artichoke Pizza and one was from a cell phone camera — likely the same footage that went viral online.

The Victim - Kevin McCarron, 24, was badly beaten for simply eating a falafel sandwich.


Kevin McCarron, 24, was badly beaten while eating a falafel sandwich from Mamoun's on MacDougal St.

Farsakh and his cohort Sherif Rizk pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, gang assault, attempted gang assault and two counts of assault.

"Officer, everything that I did was with my fist. I never used no weapon," Farsakh also said, according to court papers.

He previously told the Daily News he was just eating a falafel sandwich at Mamoun's when a fight involving his friends broke out.

Sherif Rizk was among the alleged assailants who used a tire iron, baseball bat and club to beat McCarron.

"I'm trying to break it up and I'm slapping them on the face. I'm like, 'Wake up! You guys are drunk and s---, let's everybody go home!'" he said.

Rizk also told cops in a written statement on Jan. 15 that someone in the victim's group "was calling us 'f-----g dirty arabs' and their group consisted of at least 10 people so we were outnumbered as well."

Both he and Mahmoud Habib claimed the victim Kevin McCarron's crew started the fight after they tried to diffuse the tense situation.

"The guys followed us to the next block and they keep on calling us names when we told them ok no problem keep on going home have a nice night and we dont want no problems," Habib wrote.

"Officer, everything that I did was with my fist. I never used no weapon," Hatem Farsakh said about brutal beating on MacDougal St., according to court papers.
Farsakh is free on $5,000 bail and Rizk is out on $15,000.

Their co-defendant Mahmoud Habib, out on $75,000 bail, saw a judge on Jan. 30 and also pleaded not guilty.

All three face up to 25 years in prison and are due back in court on April 16.

Three others wanted in connection to the attack are still at large.