VIDEO: Man Brandishing Machete Battles Trash Can-Wielding Foe On Upper West Side

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A man brandishing a machete faced off against a rival lugging around a half-full trash can on an Upper West Side street corner Wednesday morning as bewildered bystanders watched the bizarre street fight unfold.

The battle was captured on video and posted to Twitter by a man named Paul Tena.

"Wednesday morning 6:50am July 19 on the UWS. Man with machete in altercation with man in red," Tena said on Twitter.

According to the video, the fight went down on West 94th Street and Broadway. The two men exchange words on the street corner before clashing with their weapons of choice.

During the fight both men were quickly disarmed, according to bystander video. Shortly after the man with the machete accidentally flings his blade down the street he manages to disarm his foe. After both men lose their weapons they begin punching each other in the middle of the street, as seen in the video.

The men eventually trade off throwing trash at each other until machete guy — seemingly at the request of his female passenger — gets in his car and begins to drive away.

Tena detailed the events leading up to the fight to the West Side Rag:

"The fight started around the corner on 94th and moved out onto Broadway. The first trash can was thrown at the car which prompted the man in white to get out his machete. He then chased the man in red into the Broadway median with it at which time I started filming. I stopped filming when the fighting ended. The couple drove off and turned on west 93rd. The police arrived shortly after and the man in red flagged them down, tried to direct them to follow the car and even tried to get in the back seat of the squad car. They didn’t let him enter and sped off down 93rd. At this point a second unit arrived and I told them that the piece of the machete was still in the street in front of their cruiser. At this point the silver car was back again at the corner of Broadway and 94th being pulled over by the first police car. He was handcuffed and other witnesses were talking to both units when I left the scene.”
Read the full West Side Rag article here.

The New York Post reported that the fight started because trash can man — who has not been identified irked machete guy by walking in front of his car. Machete guy, identified by the post as 40-year-old Louis Roman, allegedly flashed a gun clip at trash can man, which set the brawl in motion.

After the street fight police arrested Roman, who has been charged with assault, criminal mischief, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, the New York Post reported. Trash can man was not arrested, the Post reported, which means he not only bested a machete-armed combatant with a trash can but also got the upper hand in the eyes of the law.

Photo by Jason Eppink via Flickr/Creative Commons