N.Y. sushi restaurant owner out of coma after dine-and-dash attack over $425 bill

An Albany sushi restaurant owner is slowly showing signs of recovery after a brutal attack outside his restaurant last month. 

Su Wen, owner and chef at Shogun Sushi in upstate New York, has woken up from a nearly two-week coma and is experiencing increasing periods of consciousness, said Ray Ren, one of the managers at his restaurant.

The father of two was assaulted on May 29 by a customer who was allegedly attempting to dine and dash after a $425 meal, NBC affiliate WNYT reported. A few employees were captured on a security camera attempting to stop the man, who threw punches at them. Su Wen, whose family didn’t reveal his last name for fear of retaliation from the attacker, took the hardest blows.

During the altercation, he was knocked to the ground, hit his head and went unconscious. He was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors had to temporarily remove part of his skull, Ren said. A GoFundMe organized by neighboring tavern owner Chris Pratt has amassed over $13,000. 

In the hours following the attack, Albany resident Lucas Healey, 42, was arrested and charged with first-degree robbery as a hate crime, third-degree assault, theft of services, and two drug counts for possession of cocaine, police said. Requests for comment from Healey’s public defender were not returned and attempts to reach family members were unsuccessful.

Ray Ren, a manager at Shogun Sushi, told NBC News that his boss is out of the coma as of his hospital visit on Tuesday. In a message delivered through Pratt, he said Su Wen was moved from the ICU to general care, and that he is “out of danger.”

“For now, he seems unable to speak or move body by himself,” the manager said. “I’m not sure if he has lost his memory or any other abilities; we’ll need to wait for the doctor’s assessment to know more. … Currently, he is still relying on nutrient solutions for nutrition intake and is mostly bedridden. But at least his periods of consciousness have increased.”

Su Wen still can’t eat on his own and will likely stay in the hospital until his skull is reattached, Ren said. Pratt, on his GoFundMe page, said that Su Wen’s wife had to quit her job to manage his care, too. 

“All I know is that this could’ve been one of my employees,” said Pratt in his GoFundMe description. “This whole thing is sickening.”

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