Q train hero has brown belt in karate
BY MELISSA GRACE and TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, December 13th 2007, 4:00 AM
Watts/News Hassan Askari after clash on Q train.
Q train peacemaker Hassan Askari has a brown belt in karate and probably could have taken out a couple of the thugs harassing Chanukah revelers if he struck the first blow.
But that isn’t his style.
“I didn’t fight them because you’re not supposed to unless it’s self-defense,” the slightly built college student and waiter told the Daily News yesterday.
Instead, Askari, 20, tried to push admitted hate criminal Joseph Jirovec and his band of bullies away from the two couples being menaced by the group.
“They grabbed me, punched me,” he said, explaining that he never got the chance to use his martial arts chops. “I was pretty disoriented.”
Askari was hailed for his courage after he came to the defense of the victims - who were beaten and pelted with anti-Semitic slurs after they wished Jirovec’s crew a “Happy Chanukah.”
Even as he sported two black eyes, he remained humble.
“I’m not a hero,” he said. “I did what people should do every day.”
His parents, who live in Bangladesh, expect no less of him.
“My father always said, ‘Stand up for people and do good for your fellow man,’” Askari said.
He called home to tell his parents about his good deed and the publicity it generated.
“They were very proud of me,” he said.
A Muslim, he said he didn’t pay much attention to the religious overtones of the confrontation as it unfolded Friday night.
“I didn’t have time to think about that,” he said. "I was more thinking that these guys were going to get beaten up and I should do something.
“It is pretty sad that someone would get so offended over someone just saying ‘Happy Chanukah,’” he added. “I don’t know why they flipped out so much. They must be angry people.”
tconnor@nydailynews.com
And still got the stuff kicked out of him – Krotty doesn’t work on the train??