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NYC 'Fight Night' terror: Firefighter and his dog attacked by vicious mob of kids

'A kid came up behind me and hit me in the back of the head with a bottle and I let go of the dog,' the firefighter said

FLUSHING, NEW YORK: A video was captured of an off-duty FDNY firefighter walking his dog in New York City when he was attacked by a swarm of angry kids. Around 9.55 pm on Friday, July 23, the firefighter, 44, was walking his Labradoodle Dylan, 3, in Juniper Valley Park in Queens' Middle Village area.

It was reported two weeks ago that as many as three teenagers, one of whom was as young as 13, died over 5 days after getting involved in a gang war that recently broke out in Bronx, New York City. Many juvenile suspects end up back on the streets and join notorious gangs after they are tried in family court instead of being prosecuted as adults, police sources revealed.

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During Friday's incident, the victim, who is the father-of-three and who asked to remain anonymous, was swarmed by "at least 100 kids," he said to The New York Post, one of whom kicked off the beatdown by declaring it was “Fight Night".

'Fight Night'

“There were at least 100 kids … I was walking my dog. They just picked me out and approached me,” the still-shaken victim said to the news outlet. He claimed that one of the teenagers removed his shirt and declared, "It’s Fight Night! I could fight you," as the rest of the group took out their phones. The boy said he was nineteen years old. "Everyone took their cell phones out. There were cell phones everywhere," the victim added. "They all came at me…A kid came up behind me and hit me in the back of the head with a bottle and I let go of the dog," he said. Some of the videos have gone viral on the internet. 

The video, which appears to begin in the middle of the incident, shows the man raising his fist while his dog growls at the children before his leash is grabbed. Before he was hit out of nowhere, the firefighter stated the kids were "going crazy" and "high as a kite," the Daily Mail reported, adding that the kids "didn't care at all".

'No respect'

"I got hit, turned around, that’s when the kids started coming at me …. Then I was on the floor, holding one kid and an ambulance pulled up. They were waiting by the park … If they weren’t there I would have been in much worse condition," he said. "I’m a little lumped up. What are you going to do? Thank God I’m still here. It could have been worse," he added.

The man was struck in the head with a glass bottle at 75th Street and Juniper Boulevard North, police confirmed to The New York Post on Saturday. There were no arrests made. The dog, which was rescued by a kind Samaritan, was unharmed.

The victim, who declined a hospital visit, claimed that “lots of incidents” had occurred recently in the park, which has become a sanctuary for out-of-control teenagers from all over the borough. He said that he had reprimanded a group of kids for jumping the fence of a childcare center across from the park, which made the group furious. Another neighbor, who was unharmed, expressed concern about illegal fireworks being fired off. “This is a tight community … kids with bikes … Maybe I’m old-school, but there’s no respect,” he added.