The five men charged with breaking a Port Authority officer's jaw and slashing a firefighter's arm in a bar fight say the injured cops are the ones who should be arrested. According to the accused, which includes state senator Martin Golden's nephew Danny Golden, an off-duty NYPD officer started the fight, and when the five men were kicked out of the bar the cops chased them down the street. Lawyer Arthur Aidala told the Daily News, "The feeling of all five of them is why are they the ones who are in trouble since they didn't even start the fight to begin with? They were defending themselves."
Police officials insist that the only people assaulted in Saturday's bar fight were off-duty cop Paul Aparo, Firefighter Rosario Cicero and Port Authority Officer Ryan McCarthy. Cicero's father said, "He tried to break up a fight and they beat the s--t out of him." Cicero was knifed in the arm outside the bar, cutting his artery and causing him to lose over a pint of blood. However, he told the Post, "I was just helping out a friend. I'd do the same thing again."
The fight allegedly started inside the bar between Aparo and Staten Islander John DeCarlo, and escalated when DeCarlo smashed a bottle over Aparo's head. Cicero and McCarthy then heard Aparo yell "I'm a cop!" and came to his aid. Though the cops claim they followed the men outside to get the license plate number of the car they were trying to escape in, a lawyer for three of the men arrested said, "This fight was over inside the bar - it was broken up. [The cops] pushed their way out and came chasing after our guys."
