A retired NYPD officer says a woman walked up and punched him in the face, leaving him bloody on his birthday. Apparently, she had an issue with his attire since, after punching him, he says she grabbed the hat off his head and yelled, “How dare you!?” There was one thing she overlooked, though.
Daniel Sprague, a retired New York City police officer, visited The Stage on Broadway bar in Nashville, Tennessee, to celebrate his 50th birthday with family and friends. Unfortunately, his birthday bash turned bloody when one woman took issue with a birthday gift he had received. According to the retired NYPD cop, a woman punched him in the face over a red cap that looked like a MAGA hat, the NY Post reported. However, there was just one problem.
For more reasons than one, the culprit most definitely chose the wrong target. Not only did she end up assaulting a retired cop but she also didn’t look too closely at the hat that set her off before punching the Staten Island resident and bloodying his face on his birthday. The hat in question didn’t say “Make America Great Again.” Instead, it featured a play on words and read, “Make Fifty Great Again.”
The cap was a nod to Sprague’s 50th birthday and just one of many items his wife had gotten him to celebrate the momentous occasion. Others seemed to enjoy the gifts his wife had selected. “People were just coming up to me and, you know, just loving the little wordplay on the hat and taking pictures and wishing me happy birthday,” Sprague told WSMV.
One woman in the bar, however, had had enough of the celebration, and she came out swinging — literally. “At one point a female came up from behind me, spun me around, and punched me in the face,” Sprague recalled. The punch left a deep cut on his cheek that he said “goes to the bone,” likely from a ring or even a set of keys in her hand when she threw the punch, he said.
“At first I thought it was a friend until I got hit. I couldn’t believe someone could get that upset,” Sprague recalled, shocked that his surprise birthday gift led to a surprise attack, but it was definitely the cap with which the woman seemed to take issue. After landing the blow, Sprague says the woman grabbed the MAGA-style hat off of his head and yelled, “How dare you!?” making it obvious her problem was with the cap.
The bar’s bouncers booted them both from the property before Sprague had a chance to call cops. Unfortunately, the suspect fled the scene and was not identified, but Sprague did file a police report and said he will press charges if she’s found to teach her and others a lesson. “We can’t just go around as a society [and act violently] because somebody has a political opinion that doesn’t match theirs,” he said, explaining that he was baffled by the vitriol. Instead, he believes everyone, even politicians he doesn’t like, deserves respect.
Further proving the kind of man he is, when Daniel Sprague recounted the incident on Facebook, he instructed readers not to react to negative comments on the post for a couple of reasons. First, he said it might be one of his friends “breaking my chops because we have a great relationship and sense of humor.” Secondly, he added, “If it happens to be a fool or misguided snow flake’s comment, by arguing with them it will only encourage them to believe they know what they are talking about.”
Sadly, this isn’t the first time someone’s gone berserk and turned violent at the sight of a red hat proclaiming “Make America Great Again” — or, in this case, appearing to advertise the iconic slogan. In similar incidents, MAGA hat-wearers have been harassed, had their hats taken or knocked off their heads, and even been spit on. This isn’t how adults in a civilized society should behave. Instead, they should display self-control and respect for others, much like Daniel Sprague did. He never hit the woman back, and even after the attack, he encouraged civility.
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