{"id":120986,"date":"2026-02-03T05:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/120986\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T05:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:41:09","slug":"roma-pizza-manager-attacked-by-man-dog-at-flatiron-restaurant-speaks-out-after-recovery-medically-induced-coma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/120986\/","title":{"rendered":"Roma Pizza manager attacked by man, dog at Flatiron restaurant speaks out after recovery, medically-induced coma"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLATIRON, Manhattan (WABC) — A pizzeria manager in Manhattan, who was left in a medically-induced coma after being brutally attacked by a man and his dog, is speaking out following his miraculous recovery.<\/p>\n

“A lot of times I felt like I really died, I was in dream,” said the victim, Zakaira El Sherief.<\/p>\n

El Sherief was viciously beaten by a stranger, who left him for dead.<\/p>\n

“I kept telling him, ‘why are you are doing that,’ when I was lying on the floor, because it was surprising. What he was doing, it was crazy,” El Sherief said.<\/p>\n

Eyewitness News spoke exclusively with Zakaira, or as customers call him, “Zak,” at his place of work, Roma Pizza in the Flatiron District.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“He insisted to kill me,” El Sherief said.<\/p>\n

In video that’s very graphic, it shows Tyshaun Watson attacking the married father of three, first inside, and then outside.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was August 19, 2024. Doctors placed El Sherief in a medically-induced coma and spent two months trying to save him.<\/p>\n

“The first thing I remember after I wake up in October,” El Sherief said.<\/p>\n

It all started when Watson walked into the restaurant with his Pit Bull off leash, ordered and sat down.<\/p>\n

Over the next few minutes, El Sherief, seen in a red baseball cap, several times told his attacker that he could not keep his dog inside because it’s the law.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Watson didn’t budge and refused to leave with his dog.<\/p>\n

He eventually did come to the counter, and things quickly escalated.<\/p>\n

Watson charged behind the counter and started throwing punch after punch.<\/p>\n

At one point, another employee jumped in, but Watson and his dog were relentless.<\/p>\n

“He tried to help but he couldn’t. It was too hard,” El Sherief said.<\/p>\n

He ran outside and tried to close the door, but Watson was on his heels.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While El Sherief was unconscious on the ground, Watson stomped his head three times, then casually strolled back in the restaurant where police arrested him.<\/p>\n

Under a plea deal, Watson will spend 17 years in prison.<\/p>\n

“I’m blessed, people around me are so nice. I appreciate every single person, I say thank you,” El Sherief said.<\/p>\n

As for Watson, El Sherief told Eyewitness News he believes there is time for him to change, that since he was given a second chance at life, Watson should too.<\/p>\n

“For all of us, on this earth there is a judgement day, all of us will be asked what he did so he still has a chance,” El Sherief said.<\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLATIRON, Manhattan (WABC) — A pizzeria manager in Manhattan, who was left in a medically-induced coma after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[53066,75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-120986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-53066","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}