Shutting up a gym grunter is legal in New York

A frustrated New Yorker was within his rights when he picked up a stationary bicycle at a gym and crashed it into a wall because the hedge fund manager who was riding it kept grunting loudly and yelling things like “Woo-hoo!,” “Good burn!” and “You go, girl!,” a jury has decided.

Christopher Carter, a 45-year-old stockbroker working out at the Equinox fitness club on the Upper East Side, repeatedly asked instructors to stop Stuart Sugarman from being so annoying before taking matters into his own hands. Sugarman claimed Carter’s “spin rage” caused a neck injury, but jurors at the assault trial doubted his story.

“I probably would’ve helped Carter” to silence the “obnoxious” Sugarman, said juror Marybeth Roman, 20.

Sugarman has also filed a civil lawsuit against Carter. Sugarman’s lawyer compared the situation to the O.J. Simpson trial, where Simpson was acquitted of criminal charges and “the truth” did not come out until the civil lawsuit.

Sources: The New York Times, Bloomberg.com