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Rapper Slashed Outside Hookah Bar Kicked Out of Uber for Bleeding: NYPD

By  Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | April 12, 2017 8:45am 

 Freeman Durden, who performs as JU, got 30 staples to his face after the attack near First Avenue and East Third Avenue, police said.
Freeman Durden, who performs as JU, got 30 staples to his face after the attack near First Avenue and East Third Avenue, police said.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

MANHATTAN — A rapper who was slashed across the face outside an East Village hookah bar by five men was then kicked out of an Uber he was trying to take to safety because he was bleeding too much Wednesday morning, police said.

Freeman Durden, who performs as JU, got into a dispute with some men inside Karma at 51 First Ave., near East Third Street, but left minutes after 1 a.m., an NYPD spokesman said. Durden and the group may have both been performing at the club, police said.

Outside, five men approached him and one of them slashed him across the left side of his face, leaving a large gash, police said.

The suspects fled and Durden hailed an Uber, which then kicked him out near First Avenue and East Houston because he was bleeding, police said.

Durden, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, then called an ambulance which took him to Bellevue where he got 30 staples to his face, police said.

The attackers were not immediately arrested, police said.

Durden was arrested because he had an open warrant for trespassing, police said.