Michael Ip for New York Daily News
A gas station attendent killed a man Thursday at a Gulf gas station at 53-26 Van Dam St. in Long Island City, Queens after the man went wild when an ATM would not give him cash.
There was another killing at a New York City gas station on Thursday, but this time the victim was drunk who tangled with an attendant who boxes and idolizes Rocky Balboa.
The still-unidentified man flipped out after he was unable to make a withdrawl from a cash machine and began throwing punches at the 27-year-old gas station worker, Jesse Singh, police and other sources said.
Instead of backing down, Singh went after the attacker, performing deft karate moves as he chased down the man, surveillance footage from the Gulf station on Van Dam St. in Long Island City shows.
Singh, who co-workers said was into boxing and loves the “Rocky” movies, was being questioned by police. Cops say Singh beat the man to death, but have not charged him with a crime.
Nor have cops released the name of the 28-year-old dead man.
Gas station owner Jervail Singh confirmed his nephew was involved in the deadly fight, but insisted the dead man “had a heart attack.”
“He got him into a chokehold,” added the attendant’s brother, Rajeet, said. “Maybe that’s how he passed away?”
The confrontation in Queens came a little over seven hours after another hardworking attendant at a Bronx gas station was shot and killed at point-blank range by a robber.
Cops are still looking for the hoodie-clad thug who killed Lamin Sillah, a 28-year-old immigrant from Gambia.
Singh got into the deadly donnybrook at 5 a.m., police said.
“He couldn’t take the money from the machine,” Jervail Singh said. “Then he went inside, knocked on the door and tried to tell” the attendant.
Singh said told the drunk, “I don’t know. Something is wrong with your card,” the uncle said.
And when Singh came out to help him, the drunk attacked, police and relatives said.
“He punched my guy in the face,” and then tried to hit him with a gas hose, Jervail Singh said.
The fight spilled out into the street and was so fierce the man tore the shirt off his nephew’s back, the uncle said.
Despite the two attacks on consecutive nights, Jervail Singh said that working at a filling station “is not a dangerous job.”
“I’ve been here 23 years,” he said. “The worst is when somebody gets gas and then drives away.”
With Erik Badia
