By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A Columbia University architecture professor allegedly punched a woman in the face during a heated barroom discussion about race, police said.
Lionel McIntyre, 59, was arrested for punching Camille Davis, a production assistant in the theatre department at Columbia Friday night at Toast, a popular university bar in Morningside Heights, according to the New York Post.
McIntyre is an associate professor in the practice of community development and director of the Urban Technical Assistance Project, according to the Columbia University Web site.
Both McIntyre and Davis were regulars at Toast, at Broadway between Tiamenn Place and La Salle Street, the paper reported. The duo had previously had intense discussions there.
The trouble started around 10:30 p.m. when the pair's argument escalated into fisticuffs with McIntyre decking Davis at the bar, the paper reported.
"The punch was so loud, the kitchen workers in the back heard it over all the noise," bar back Richie Velez, 28, told the Post.
Other patrons tossed McIntyre out of the bar, reported the Post.
"It was a very unfortunate event," McIntyre said following his arrest, according to the paper. "I didn't mean for it to explode the way it did."
McIntyre was released without bail and arraigned on assault charges Monday night, according to the Post.
