A man who says he's the person being punched in a Paterson "knockout video" that went viral — and prompted charges against two teens involved — said he is afraid to leave his home since the incident.

Speaking through a translator, Cesar Nejara, 37, told ABC 7 the punch to his face captured on video as he stood on a Paterson street corner broke a tooth and still causes him pain in his mouth. Nejara said he could not eat sold food for eight days after the attack. He also said he is afraid to leave his home and lives in fear.

According to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, the teen seen knocking out a man in the video has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault and endangering. He was 17-years-old at the time of the incident and will be treated as a juvenile, but his attorney, Harley Breite, has identified the teen as now-18-year-old Kristian Gonzalez.

A 16-year-old boy authorities say recorded the incident also pleaded not guilty to charges in the incident.

The video is being called an example of "The Knockout Game" in which random people are punched and recorded to video.

"Those teenagers, they have a different set of mind. I'm just human. If I was to hit anybody, it would hurt me as much as it hurt them. To them (it's) just a game, but to me it's real life. They're the ones who attacked me," Nejara told ABC.

Nejara told ABC works as a street cleaner and sends money back to Guatemala to support his wife and five children. He told the station that $300 cash he was carrying that day in December was missing after the infamous punch, and that he does not know Gonzalez or the other teen.

 

Breite has previously said Gonzalez, a senior at Great Falls Academy in Paterson, takes medication for schizophrenia, obsessive defiant disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM