A self-appointed vigilante at a Queens apartment building was arrested after he choked and beat into a concussion a fellow tenant he did not recognize him as a resident, The Post has learned.
Yong Hung Wang, 36, of 35-06 Leavett St., in Flushing, mistook victim John Derounian, 37, for a burglar after Derounian returned to their building Wednesday morning to get his front door key and cell phone, which he had left behind.
A shaken Derounian, a paralegal, said he repeatedly told his attacker he was a tenant and even opened his mailbox and showed him his mail. But Wang continued the attack, which left Derounian said left him with bruises, aches and a concussion.
“He is a vigilante,’’ said Derounian. “He has a little badge and he wants to be a cop. According to his wife, he wants to be the protector of the building.”
He said the incident began when he left in his car from the building’s garage but realized he had left his cell phone at home. He went back to the front door, to find that Wang had opened it. Derounian then held it open for Wang to take in his groceries, he said.
“He pushed me in the chest and said `You don’t live here! I don’t know you! Get out!’ I told him I did live here. I opened my mailbox and showed him my mail with my name on it but he didn’t care,” said Derounian.
“He kept yelling at me: `I’m going to F**k you up. I’m going to hurt you! I’m going to kick your F*****g ass!’ He held me prisoner in the elevator. I hate to say it but I think it was racist – I think I‘m the only white guy in the building.
Wang “said he was going to call the cops and I agreed,’’ said Derounian. “But when they came, they threatened to arrest me.” Derounian said plainclothes cops responded but told him that if they arrested Wang they would have to bust him also.
He said the police left but Derounian later called them back to see a security video. But they still refused to arrest Wang, who had showed them a small courtesy badge. “They told me it was not a criminal matter,’’ said an outraged Derounian.
Only when Derounian called NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau did a lieutenant arrive, view the video again and ordered Wang put in handcuffs.
Derounian said the superior officer looked at the original cops and said to them “Are you kidding? I’m arresting him.”
“There’s no place for vigilantism – especially when it’s based on race,” said Derounian’s lawyer, Neil Greenberg. “This has got to stop.”
Wang’s explanation to told police was: ” I called 911 because I thought the complaining witness was trespassing. I wasn’t going to let him in the lobby and we got into a shoving match.”
He told The Post that when he first saw Derounian, “he looked like a drunk guy or something because he wasn’t standing up straight. He was wobby.”
“I lived here for three years. And I never saw (him) before. I thought he was gonna rob me,” said Wang, an accountant.
He claimed it was Derounian who was cursing. “I said ‘Where’s your key?’ Then he said, Get the f..k out of the way, I live in this building. F..k you, you f..kin Chinese guy.”
He said a resident of the building came by and agreed with him to keep the intruder out but Derounian tried to get into an elevator.
“I I took hold of him and dragged him so he couldn’t get away. We got into a fight but I was just trying to defend myself,” he said.
Wang was only charged with one misdemeanor count of third degree assault and a violation – second degree harassment. He was arraigned on the charges yesterday and released without bail by a Queens judge.
Wang’s mother, Xian Xiao, defended her son, saying he wanted to protect his children. She noted tha a 3-year-old neighbor was thrown to his death by another tenant two years ago.
“This man tried to get inside the building so he followed my son,’’ said Xian Xiao, who spoke in Mandarin through a translator. “My son thought that he was just a stranger who wanted to get into the building.
“I remember that a baby was thrown out of a window next door. We have small children here and are very skeptical of strangers because of that,’’ she said.
“My son has two kids and he wants to protect them. He never took it upon himself to protect the whole building,’’ she said.