We imagine firefighters in New York City are pretty tough guys, so to us it’s not shocking that one knocked out a guy in a road rage fight. However, it seems some people are taken aback by this, with a police investigation into the incident and the firefighter getting hit with a criminal charge.
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That might sound crazy, but read up on what we know about this road rage exchange first, then decide what you think. It all started when the firefighter, 34-year-old Peter Clough, got into some sort of argument or heated exchange with 28-year-old Jelani Footman as they were driving in the Bronx.
It was at 5:50 pm so in the middle of the hectic rush hour traffic when both drivers got out of their vehicles. In our opinion, that’s always a dumb thing to do, but a lot of people don’t even think twice about it.
According to the New York Post, Footman marched up to Clough with his fists balled up, a clear sign of aggression if you ask us. Then he reportedly said, “I got something for you.” Yeah, don’t do that if you’re not ready to get hit, trust us.
But the guy did and shocker, Clough hit him, hard. In fact, Footman was knocked out, we believe with a single punch. That must’ve hurt his ego.
Footman wasn’t hurt badly enough to be hospitalized, but the punch was enough for responding police officers to hit Clough with a third-degree assault charge. That’s a misdemeanor, not a felony, but still it’s criminal.
We know there’s a lot of tension between cops and firefighters in the Big Apple, just like elsewhere, so we wonder if that factored into the assigning of blame. After all, when a guy comes at you, fists balled up, ready to fight, saying something provocative, most people would consider that a threat. So perhaps this was a case of self-defense?
Had it been a cop approached that way, we seriously question if there would have been any charges. Perhaps that’s why the FDNY told the New York Post Clough’s status hadn’t been altered after the incident. However, an internal review of what happened is reportedly ongoing.
What do you think about this road rage fight? We know we only have limited info, but do you think the firefighter was justified in clocking the guy? Did the other guy get exactly what he deserved? Or is it never okay to hit someone else?
Image via New York City Fire Department/Facebook
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