Two janitors for Columbia University who claim they were held hostage in a “highly coordinated” attack last year are suing the protesters involved in the incident, The Free Press reported. Mario Torres and Lester Wilson told The Free Press they’re “suing their alleged captors for battery, assault, and conspiracy to violate their civil rights.”
Allegations of hostage situation during violent protest
The lawsuit stems from a night nearly one year ago — the early morning hours of April 30, 2024 — when pro-Palestinian protesters stormed Hamilton Hall on Columbia University’s campus, smashing windows and barricading doors just after midnight.
Torres and Wilson were working in the building that night and say the agitators had zip ties, duct tape and masks. Torres told The Free Press he remembers looking up at the cameras inside Hamilton Hall and seeing coverings placed over them, making him believe it was a planned attack.
Torres claims one protester offered him cash to leave the building, which he refused. When he realized the protesters were becoming more violent, he said he begged them to let him out of the building, but they wouldn’t do it. He claims some of the protesters called him a “Jew-lover” and a “Zionist.”
“We don’t expect to go to work and get swarmed by an angry mob with rope and duct tape and masks and gloves,” Torres told The Free Press just days after last year’s attack. “I was freaking out. At that point, I’m thinking about my family. How was I gonna get out? Through the window?”
Physical confrontation and criminal charges
Wilson says when he came face-to-face with the agitators, they pushed him and rammed him with furniture.
Torres got into a physical altercation with one of the protesters, a 41-year-old man named James Carlson. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Carlson for his alleged role in the takeover of Hamilton Hall, and he is currently on trial.
Attorneys for Carlson refuted that he had used anti-semitic language, telling the New York Post that he is of Jewish-Armenian descent.
“The claims against Mr. Carlson are patently false and defamatory,” attorney Robert Gottlieb told the New York Post. “He never uttered at any time any antisemitic slurs to the plaintiffs.”
Lasting effects and trauma
The Columbia janitors say they suffered physical injuries during the takeover and now suffer from PTSD that requires ongoing medical care. The two are seeking monetary compensation for their time out of work and to cover medical bills, according to the New York Post.
Neither of the men have returned to Columbia’s campus since the assault.
