Flyers_fan_fight
Earlier today, once police all but cleared the idiot who seemingly lied about being the one that assaulted a Rangers fan, Neal Auricchio Jr., outside Geno’s, we wrote that we wanted to hear from the person who shot the video which is now all over the internet.

Tonight, that person reached out to us.

He is a 30-year-old deaf man who asked that we not use his real name. So we’ll call him Lou.

Lou sent me a cryptic email, which at first made it seem as though he had another video of the incident– he didn’t. After a few follow ups, we got on the same page, and Lou explained that he shot the original video that has led to a police search for the men who assaulted Auricchio, a Purple Heart recipient.

I gave Lou my phone number, but because he’s deaf*, he says, asked if we could text instead. Skeptical, I asked Lou to forward me the original video file, a request that most likely couldn’t be completed without a delay if he didn’t actually take the video himself. He promptly texted and emailed me the 46 second video file, complete with iPhone file-naming conventions and a slightly higher resolution than the one posted on YouTube. Lou took the video.

*A quick Google search of his real name confirmed Lou’s reason for not being able to speak on the phone.

As you might expect, there was more to the story than what you saw on this site and others.

Lou: [as you can see, we cleaned up the grammar a bit, for readability, but left all of his phrasing in there…]

I was walking toward the line for Geno’s, and these guys in Flyers jerseys bribed a black dude, who might be a window cleaner for cars and such, to spray his cleaner at [the Rangers fans who were in line at Geno’s]. I got some sprayed on me, but I walked away from the black dude. Then he went back across the street to [the Flyers fans], and they were just cracking up so hard. So the Rangers fans started yapping at them, so all verbal out there. [Lou says he can read lips, and that his cousin confirmed it was mostly “Rangers suck,” from one side, and “Rangers are number one,” from the other…]

Then the Flyers fans went after them, which I started filming, as you could see in the video. Then after that the video ended. And after two minutes, that dude who got knocked out got up and needed some medical help, so he got a lot of ice from Geno’s to put on his face. One of the guys in the Flyers jerseys [the one seen in the video trying to break up the fight] offered [the Rangers fans] a couple of steaks. They walked away.

That was it. In that line there was like 3-1 Rangers fans, they all stood there and watched, didn’t even move to help or to call cops. Only one Flyers fan tried to break it up.

The Rangers fans [initially] said something that offended [the Flyers fans], which made [the Flyers fans] come to them, but that little dude [the guy who eventually got knocked out] tried to tell them to stop, don’t start, but the Flyers guy just ignored him and took his jacket off and punched his face. So the Flyers guy went too far.

 

He continued, saying the Flyers fan who tried to help received high fives from the Rangers fans for his efforts. Lou also said there was someone else – who you can see in his video – filming the event.

More:

The Flyers guys were hanging out at the bar, across from Geno’s, so police should go there and ask for some info, like if he used his credit card at that bar [editor’s note: most likely South Philly Bar & Grill], or anything that can get his name. I’ll remember what they look like [if] I see them.

It’s crazy out there with people [blaming me] and all. I just said that I taped it. I was like wow.

 

He said how much he regrets putting the video on YouTube, because perhaps he could have gotten some money for it:

The video which I took is just way too popular, and I made a mistake to post it on YouTube. Someone copied it and let the news know about it. I thought it was nothing big until I heard this guy was a vet, which made it big. Oh well, I’ll learn next time.

You can post what I’ve told you, and maybe that might help a little to catch those guys.

 

Maybe it will, Lou.