Newsday has followed up on the Peck-Crouch smackdown. Crouch declined to comment, but he acknowledges in the article that he saw Peck at Tartine. Newsday did note that Crouch was once fired for hitting a colleague at the Village Voice.
I’ve called the owner of Tartine, the restaurant where Crouch allegedly hit Peck. The owner declined to give his name to me, but he told me that he was unaware of anyone fighting or hitting anybody yesterday. And none of his staff reported the incident to him.
Until we can get a report corroborated from a Tartine employee, I’m inclined to believe that the incident was exaggerated somewhat on Gawker. And Choire did, after all, disclaim that he rooms with Peck.
I dunno. I think a punch could have landed without it escalating in a full-fledged fight of the type that would elicit the owner’s attention. (Esp. in light of the corroborative stories of other people Crouch has hit., includiing the Village Voice colleague) But I think it’s really cool, Ed, how instead of speculating endlessly, as I do, you, um, pick up the phone & ask.
Yeah, same here. Although it depends if it was a punch, or simply a slapped face. If it was the latter, I could easily see how it might not have merited attention from the waitstaff or the owner.