A manager at a New York City pizzeria was arrested after surveillance video reportedly showed him attacking a black customer with a pizza peel leaving him bloodied and wounded, Local NBC 4 reported. Quevaughn Caruth, a legal assistant at the Bronx District Attorney's office, said the manager had "no regard" for his life.

The alleged attack took place one night in March when Caruth and his friends went to La Vera Pizzeria and Restaurant in Murray Hill. Caruth told NBC 4 that a manager, Ali Essa, singled him out and asked him to leave the pizzeria after he paid for his food and was waiting on his friends to finish their orders.

Caruth and his friend and witness Jacob Zirinsky told NBC 4 that no one else was being asked to leave. They said the manager then hit Caruth with "a big pizza spatula."

24yr old Bronx paralegal Quevaughn Caruth sues La Vera Pizza on 2nd Av near 49th…claims former manager there beat him with a pizza peel. #1010WINS
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— Al Jones (@aljoneswins) May 25, 2018

"For him to hit me multiple times when it broke, it tells me he had no regard for my life," Caruth said in an interview with NBC 4.

According to NBC 4, Essa was arrested and charged with assault after police reviewed surveillance footage capturing the incident. A criminal complaint states the video showed Essa striking Caruth multiple times, breaking the peel during the attack.

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Caruth said he couldn't understand why he was initially being asked to leave considering he was a paying customer. He said he was the only person of color in the pizzeria at the time, and a staffer of the pizzeria allegedly called him a racial slur.

"He called me a stupid N-word," Caruth told the Daily News.

#Rubenstein Attorney Sanford Rubenstein with Black Lives Matter Greater NY president Hawk Newsome and victim Quevaughn Caruth announcing the filing of a civil lawsuit against La Vera Pizzeria and Ali Essa alleging felony assault . https://t.co/gAbhJsIIUK
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— Sanford Rubenstein (@attyrubenstein) May 25, 2018

According to the Daily News, Caruth was knocked unconscious and rushed to NYU Langone Medical Center.

Essa denied hitting Caruth, alleging he held the peel but didn't hit Caruth in the face.

"I held the thing because he was telling me he's going to kill me," he told the Daily News. "I was defending myself. I was protecting my store. But did I hit him in the face with it? No, I didn't."

Essa also claimed Caruth "started it" by allegedly throwing a Pepsi can at his face.

"The injuries that he has, it's not me," he said according to the Daily News.

Caruth and his attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, have filed a civil lawsuit against Essa and La Vera Pizzeria and Restaurant.

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