The Haitian-American NYC doctor accusing a white neighbor of “violently” spraying his dinner party guests with a garden hose recalled Thursday how there were “absolutely no words” exchanged before the aggressive act that ruined his bash.
Yves Duroseau, 52, the head of emergency medicine at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital, noted his heart rate was skyrocketing as he discussed the Sept. 17, 2022 incident — despite the fact that he’s used to dealing with emergencies in his profession.
“My resting heart rate is only 48. I can tell you right now it’s over 100. I’m feeling the anger right now, as we speak,” Duroseau said during a press conference at the Cochran Law Firm in the Financial District.
“I’m a trained professional, I deal with emergencies,” added Duroseau, flanked by his wife, Claude, and some of the other 19 party-goers who have filed suit against neighbor Marcus Rosebrock — alleging he used the water as a calculated tool that harkens back to the Jim Crow south.
“Everything we had worked on so hard was in ruins,” Claude Duroseau, 52, told reporters about the evening in question. “Our beautiful clothes, our bodies, the place settings, the food, the drinks — the entire backyard, were no longer able to be used because everything was wet by my neighbor’s hose.”
New video released late Wednesday showed guests scattering and trying to avoid the water that was coming over the fence into the backyard of the Duroseaus’ Forest Hills home, where the couple was throwing the 47th birthday party for Yves’ sister, Rosevony Duroseau.
Yves said neighbor Rosebrock didn’t even ask him to turn the music down before opening fire with his garden hose on the 19 revelers — all black and Latino, except for one white guest.
“If someone asked me to turn the music down [because] their kids cannot sleep, that would automatically happen,” said Yves. “There were absolutely no words prior to him hosing us.
“We had to make a quick calculation of our safety, what to do with our anger,” he explained. “We had the sense to videotape this.”
The video shows a sprinkling of water coming over the fence and then stronger streams of water continuing to come into the Duroseaus’ yard several more times.
“I’m videotaping the neighbors throwing water on everyone at Rose’s party. I am videotaping the neighbor throwing water at us,” the camerawoman can be heard yelling. “We’re calling the cops.”
The party-goers all filed suit against Rosebrock earlier this month, accusing him of using a tactic similar to when white police used fire hoses on black protesters in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960s.
The suit also brings claims against a white woman — whom they have yet to uncovered the identity of — that let herself into the Duroseaus’ home accompanied by a German shepherd, demanding that the music get turned down.
“Not only were we accosted at the front of the vestibule of our home by a local woman with a German Shepherd, insisting that we shut down our music,” Claude said. “Moments later, we started to feel a wet sprinkling from overhead.”
Six of the plaintiffs, including music executive Rigo Morales, were present at a press conference Thursday where some detailed the humiliating incident.
Another party-goer, Katya Dossous, recounted trying to reason with Rosebrock who she made eye contact with.
“I know he saw me,” Dossous said Thursday. “We made eye contact. And I tried to speak to him. Every time I tried to speak, he sprayed me harder and harder.”
Claude said that she remembers her guests “scramble[ing] around trying to get away” and how the incident left everyone “scarred.”
“Even though a full year has passed since this incident, I feel no less traumatized, humiliated, violated and ashamed,” she said.
The party — which not only celebrated Rosevony’s birthday but also her recent engagement — featured a nine-course meal that was catered by Vanessa Cantave — the winner of season 11 of Bravo show “Rocco’s Dinner Party.”
Plaintiff lawyer Derek Sells claimed that Rosebrock “dehumanized” his clients who are now seeking to hold him accountable for his actions.
“He sprayed them as if they were farm animals,” Sells said. “And it harkens back to images that have been burned into our minds of the situations that took place in our country during the Civil Rights era.”
Rosebrock’s lawyer Brandon Gillard has denied that his client’s actions were racially motivated and called the neighbors “aggressive and violent.”
“That 1:12 video is a snapshot of events that happened over an hour,” he told The Post, saying that the footage released was “not fully representative” of the encounter.