Times Square Spider Man Fights NYPD Police Meet your Un-Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man! A panhandler dressed as the iconic webslinger repeatedly punched a cop in the face during a violent Times Square tussle Saturday afternoon, police said. It had been just another routine day of bedlam at the Crossroads of the World, with crowds of costumed characters shaking down tourists for cash — until Spidey came out swinging in a caught-on-video outburst. The not-so-Marvel-ous comic-book creature had been demanding $10 from tourists who wanted to pose for pictures, ­police said. “Fives, tens, or 20s only,” he allegedly demanded. It was at about 2 p.m. when a cop overheard the outrageous prices and confronted the superzero. That’s when the angered arachnid went anarchic, sources said. Asked for ID, Spidey spewed venom. “F–k you! This is none of your business,” he allegedly seethed, tearing off his mask. As the cop moves to arrest him, the tights-clad beggar bugs out. Witness video captures him throwing at least two roundhouse punches at the male officer — the first punch knocking off the cop’s cap — as a policewoman joins in the attempt to subdue Spidey, the sources said. Startled tourists gaped and took souvenir videos. A crowd of fellow mascots, including Elmo, Batman and a side-by-side Mickey and Minnie Mouse, also stood watch, their fuzzy mitts held to their giant heads in apparent disbelief. By the time backup officers rushed to the scene less than a minute after the scuffle began, the two-legged pest had been brought to the pavement and was being rear-cuffed. “Stop resisting, bitch!” the cop can be heard shouting on video. The clobbered cop, who has just a year and a half on the job and whose name was not released, was taken to NYU’s Langone Medical Center. He was treated for pain and swelling to the face, the sources said. “The real Spider-Man would have never done something like this,” one officer quipped. The cop is a rookie and had been assigned to Times Square only recently, in response to a Post story, headlined “Great Blight Way,” detailing the crowded chaos of often belligerent panhandlers clogging the tourist mecca. The story prompted NYPD Commissioner William Bratton to visit Times Square the very next day, and to beef up the ­police presence, law-enforcement sources have said. Spidey’s actual name is Junior Bishop, police said. He was due to be arraigned Sunday at Manhattan Criminal Court on charges including felony assault. Bishop was arrested in April in Times Square for allegedly getting caught with a knife while aggressively panhandling. The disposition of that case was unclear last night. Bishop pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault last July after being arrested in Brownsville, Brooklyn, for punching a woman on a train platform. He’s been arrested seven times, sources said. Bishop’s panhandling cohorts quickly leaped to his defense later Saturday, complaining that the officer was being overly ­aggressive. “He’s been harassing Spider-Man and everybody,” complained a Batman, whose gave his real name as José Martinez. “He tells people you don’t have to tip [the costumed characters].” Martinez said. “Spider-Man told [the officer] to stop,” said Martinez, 41, of Harlem, who was decked out in full Batman regalia, including cape and molded plastic biceps. Martinez insisted that when the cop asked Spider-Man for ID, Spidey did nothing to provoke the officer or spur an arrest, but merely said that his ID was in his car. “Then the policeman grabbed him by the neck,” for no reason, Martinez said angrily. “He was trying to choke him and [Spidey] resisted.” Batman ­insisted. The combatants are off-camera for several one- or two-second intervals in the video, which shows the cop reaching toward Spider-Man’s shoulder or neck area as they scuffle. But at no point in the video does the officer appear to have his entire arm around Spider-Man’s neck. “Everybody is scared after what happened to the man in Staten ­Island,” Martinez said, referring to Eric Garner, who died last week shortly after a cop put him in a chokehold while Garner was ­resisting arrest. A Minnie Mouse who identified herself as Maria said Spider-Man had been asking “politely” for tips when the officer confronted him. “The Spider-Man said, ‘Let me work,’ ” Minnie Mouse insisted. And Mickey Mouse joined his mascot pals in claiming he saw the cop “choke” Spider-Man, and insisted, “He had to defend himself after that — and hit back.”

• published: 27 Jul 2014
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