Grocer Acquitted in Fight That Started Black Boycott

A Korean-American grocer accused of attacking a customer, in an incident that touched off a black-led boycott, was acquitted Wednesday of assault and other charges.

Pong Ok Jang wept as the verdicts were read in Criminal Court. He then stood and bowed to the six jurors.

Afterward, Pong said he was not bitter. Outside the courthouse, he said through an interpreter: “I felt angry at some point, but I tried to understand their side, too.”

Prosecutors contended that employees of the Family Red Apple Store in Brooklyn slapped, punched and kicked Giselaine Felissaint, who is black, on Jan. 18, 1990, after they unjustly accused her of stealing. Pong, who was the store manager at the time, could have faced up to a year in jail for misdemeanor assault, attempted assault and harassment.

Pong’s lawyer, Joseph T. Klempner, told the jury that Felissaint started the disturbance when she got angry and threw hot peppers into a cashier’s face. When Pong, 32, and others tried to calm her, the defense said, Felissaint lay down on the floor and later told police she had been assaulted.

Several doctors testified that Felissaint had injuries consistent with being slapped and kicked.