A Brooklyn ballet dancer who stopped into his local 99-cent store to buy balloons — only to be attacked with a razor by a 79-year-old worker accused of spewing homophobic slurs — says the suspect appeared to be trying to stab his eye out.
Nathaniel Platt was in a hurry to make a dance performance in Manhattan when he made a quick pit stop to purchase the balloons for a friend’s birthday at 99¢ & More Town on Nostrand and Foster Aves. in Flatbush around 1:35 p.m. Sunday.
When the clerk swung at him with a box cutter, Platt, 37, says he could have lost an eye had he not deflected the blow with his arm. He suffered a minor puncture wound to the side of his face about an inch from his eye instead.
Store worker Allan Jones was arrested for assault and menacing as hate crimes and aggravated harassment and criminal possession of a weapon.
But Platt, a professional classical ballet dancer, says witnesses just laughed off the attack, which he believes was spurred on by it being Pride month.
“I thought my eye was gone,” Platt said. “They were all laughing because I ran away from a knife. I do not know who the hell would not run away from somebody with a knife. And then he was still trying to come for me.”
It began when Platt asked Jones for assistance with the balloons, Platt says. That’s when Jones used a word that sometimes has homophobic overtones, Platt said. Jones went on to spew homophobic remarks throughout the encounter, telling the victim, “I’m going to f–k you up,” Platt said.
“I didn’t have time to fight … I told him I have a job to go to,” Platt said. “I made it very clear, like, ‘Sir, I do not want to have no issue with you.’”
“He’s yelling the whole time,” Platt added. “He’s out of control.”
“You’re trying to antagonize a fight,” Platt says he told Jones, which only made the worker more furious. Jones allegedly pulled a box cutter out of his pocket and slashed Platt near his left eye. Platt says the wound would have been worse had he not deflected the blow with his arm.
The victim fled from Jones down an aisle, pulling items off the shelf to try to slow Jones down in pursuing him as Platt called 911.
Platt declined medical attention but was left badly shaken.
“He killed my spirit, he really did,” Platt said. “But I’m happy he didn’t make me vengeful … I could have found a knife around the store and got the best of him. I would have went to jail, everything done.”
Jones was released without bail after being arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court. The criminal complaint against him says he used slurs and cut Platt in the face with a box cutter. He is due back in court Oct. 7.
A manager at the 99-cent store said she was working in the back as the incident unfolded but said the suspect is “good with customers” and has worked there for three years.
“They’re both good guys,” Ellen Zhang, 42 said of the suspect and the victim, who she knows as a regular customer.
Platt said he no longer feels safe living near the store.
“It’s a gamble living out here,” Platt said, adding that often downplays his homosexuality in public to avoid angering locals.
“We’ll either hide it or you dress it down a little bit,” he said. “Being confident can offend people. Being comfortable in your skin with who you are, it offends.”
