http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...SfLzOR0wotz7mM
Martial arts teacher stabbed by ex-con during argument over dogs
By JOHN DOYLE, CHUCK BENNETT and JENNIFER BAIN
Last Updated: 5:50 PM, September 30, 2010
Posted: 2:07 PM, September 30, 2010
A martial arts instructor turned bartender was stabbed to death last night by an ex-con after the two argued over their dogs outside a Brooklyn bar, police and witnesses said.
The deadly encounter occurred around 2 a.m. at the Branded Saloon on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights when off-duty bartender Chai-Eun Hillmans dog began fighting with convicted murderer Daniel Pagans pooch.
Hilllmann, 41, a former karate instructor, had come to the bar on his night off to hear a band play and tied his dog Rocco, a miniature pinscher, to the bar.
Pagan and his female companion also tied their dog to the bar and the animals began playing or fighting, said Rondel Sommerset, 30, an eyewitness and friend of Hillmann.
"The wife was trying to separate the dogs. Chai and the stabber were arguing whose dog could beat up whose, it was in a sort of joking way, it wasn't serious," Sommerset told The Post.
Apparently the dogs leashes became entangled and Hillmann may have brushed up against Pagans companion.
"The stabber was saying, You pushed my wifes arm. Chai said, No I didn't, before we get into this ask your wife," Sommerset said.
"They started to tussel, no punches were thrown, people were trying to break it up. The wife wasnt saying anything," he added.
The bartender on duty, Dan Hultquist, 38, went to break the two up.
"Dan got sliced first. I saw the knife in the guys hand. It was jagged and was a flip knife," Sommerset said.
Hultquist was stabbed in the neck, according to poilce.
"Chai and the guy ended up in the street. Thats when I saw the stabbers elbow going back and forth [in a] stabbing motion eight times," Sommerset said. "Chai stumbled, he got up twice and said, He stabbed me he stabbed me."
Hillmann was pronounced dead on arrival at Kings County Hospital.
Pagan, who served nine years in prison for shooting a man to death in 1991 and wounding another, has been charged with murder, police said. He declined to comment after being charged this afternoon.
Hultquist is in stable condition at Kings County Hospital.
The Korean-born Hillman used to run the Chai Karate martial arts school in Ardsley.
In a 1996 interview with the New York Times, Hillman, a black belt, said people should study martial arts for self-defense.
"They wont be victims," he said. "They can choose whether to continue confrontation or get out of it and flee."
Staff at the Branded Saloon posted this message on the bars Facebook page, "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend and co-worker Chai Eun J Hillmann who was killed last night in an act senseless violence. The attacker also stabbed another co-worker and dear friend Daniel who is recovering. We ask that you keep Chai and Daniel's family and friends in your thoughts and prayers."
The bar will hold a vigil Saturday night to protest violence and honors Hilmanns memory.
Martial arts teacher stabbed by ex-con during argument over dogs
By JOHN DOYLE, CHUCK BENNETT and JENNIFER BAIN
Last Updated: 5:50 PM, September 30, 2010
Posted: 2:07 PM, September 30, 2010
A martial arts instructor turned bartender was stabbed to death last night by an ex-con after the two argued over their dogs outside a Brooklyn bar, police and witnesses said.
The deadly encounter occurred around 2 a.m. at the Branded Saloon on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights when off-duty bartender Chai-Eun Hillmans dog began fighting with convicted murderer Daniel Pagans pooch.
Hilllmann, 41, a former karate instructor, had come to the bar on his night off to hear a band play and tied his dog Rocco, a miniature pinscher, to the bar.
Pagan and his female companion also tied their dog to the bar and the animals began playing or fighting, said Rondel Sommerset, 30, an eyewitness and friend of Hillmann.
"The wife was trying to separate the dogs. Chai and the stabber were arguing whose dog could beat up whose, it was in a sort of joking way, it wasn't serious," Sommerset told The Post.
Apparently the dogs leashes became entangled and Hillmann may have brushed up against Pagans companion.
"The stabber was saying, You pushed my wifes arm. Chai said, No I didn't, before we get into this ask your wife," Sommerset said.
"They started to tussel, no punches were thrown, people were trying to break it up. The wife wasnt saying anything," he added.
The bartender on duty, Dan Hultquist, 38, went to break the two up.
"Dan got sliced first. I saw the knife in the guys hand. It was jagged and was a flip knife," Sommerset said.
Hultquist was stabbed in the neck, according to poilce.
"Chai and the guy ended up in the street. Thats when I saw the stabbers elbow going back and forth [in a] stabbing motion eight times," Sommerset said. "Chai stumbled, he got up twice and said, He stabbed me he stabbed me."
Hillmann was pronounced dead on arrival at Kings County Hospital.
Pagan, who served nine years in prison for shooting a man to death in 1991 and wounding another, has been charged with murder, police said. He declined to comment after being charged this afternoon.
Hultquist is in stable condition at Kings County Hospital.
The Korean-born Hillman used to run the Chai Karate martial arts school in Ardsley.
In a 1996 interview with the New York Times, Hillman, a black belt, said people should study martial arts for self-defense.
"They wont be victims," he said. "They can choose whether to continue confrontation or get out of it and flee."
Staff at the Branded Saloon posted this message on the bars Facebook page, "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend and co-worker Chai Eun J Hillmann who was killed last night in an act senseless violence. The attacker also stabbed another co-worker and dear friend Daniel who is recovering. We ask that you keep Chai and Daniel's family and friends in your thoughts and prayers."
The bar will hold a vigil Saturday night to protest violence and honors Hilmanns memory.
