The owner of a Lower East Side cafe was ridiculed after being confronted on video by two grinning vandals who shamelessly smeared graffiti on his pricey dining establishment earlier this month.
“Are you serious?” Kaiser Richter asked one of the men he encountered finishing off some graffiti in a dining shed outside Flowers Cafe on Essex Street.
“No one here,” the second Tugger shrugged as Richter approached. According to an Instagram video of the incident shared on June 11th.
The original scribble artist didn’t answer Richter’s question, but grinned as he walked away from his finished work, which ruined the orange interior of the small diner.
Richter grew visibly more annoyed when he told the couple he paid $16,000 for the cabin.
“16K? This guy didn’t sand it, he didn’t polish it!” one of the men replied, pointing at the now stained wall.
“That’s the worst!” the man added, grinning.
As the two casually walked away, Richter shouted that he would report the incident to police.
“When I confronted them, one of them justified himself by saying they looked ugly,” the cafe owner told Storyful.
Richter added that he has given the video to police, who are currently searching for the two men.
Social media commenters slammed those who defaced Richter’s Instagram post.
“Shocking how they have no shame or attempt to hide what they’re doing. In broad daylight!!” wrote one viewer.
“So sad! These two are adults not teenagers! Hope the police can do something to help,” added another.
The New York Police Department did not immediately respond to a request from The Washington Post seeking an update on the investigation.
On Monday, Flowers Cafe’s Instagram account uploaded a second video that appeared to show the new tag, which was added within an hour of closing time on Sunday night.
“Lawless New York,” the caption read.
Flowers Cafe did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
