By Sabina Mollot
A Stuyvesant Town senior was struck on the head by an errant hockey puck, as he sat on a bench outside a playground, he told Town & Village last week.
The resident, who didn’t want his name published, said he was on the bench on Friday, August 14, with a female friend, when the puck flew out of the playground behind 250 First Avenue. Instinctively, he jumped up when it hit, thinking he was being attacked, possibly as a part of the “knockout game,” in which thugs around the city have attacked people randomly with one blow.
“I thought maybe someone slugged me with a baseball bat or fist,” he said. “I was dazed.”
Soon, however, he realized the puck that had sailed over, hitting the side of his head, was being used by a young man (the resident said he looked around 19) for practice, as he was by himself.
“I yelled at the guy,” said the resident, who added that the other man didn’t apologize. “He said, ‘It was an accident, Mister. Can I have my hockey puck back?’”
Instead, the resident asked the man how he’d react if it was his mother who’d been hit on the head by a hockey puck and the person just asked for their puck back. “He said, ‘You’re right.’”
However, the resident said he didn’t get much empathy from his neighbors, either. Another man who was walking a dog strolled by at that moment, and turned to the resident to say, ‘Hey, mister, what’s your problem?’”
The resident said he’s seen three doctors since the incident and still feels pain in his head.
“I’m a strong, older guy,” he said. “I know what pain is; I’m not a wuss.”
He added that if a doctor told him if he had been a more elderly person or a child, “It might have killed them or caused catastrophic damage.”
The resident added that he’s since reached out to management, via letter, to suggest putting up some netting at the playground’s perimeter or a taller fence to prevent future accidents involving flying pucks.
T&V asked CWCapital about the incident, and the resident’s suggestions, but we did not get a response.
Tagged: CWCapital, playground, stuyvesant town
