{"id":425731,"date":"2025-12-05T05:08:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T05:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/425731\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T05:08:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T05:08:26","slug":"husband-of-west-village-man-82-shoved-to-death-over-bump-grieves-end-of-52-year-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/425731\/","title":{"rendered":"Husband of West Village man, 82, shoved to death over bump grieves end of 52-year romance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The husband of an 82-year-old West Village man who died weeks after a neighbor pushed him to the pavement<\/a> for bumping into him says the clash put an end to a romance that spanned more than half a century.<\/p>\n

Dean Conover Whetzel hit his head on the pavement after 79-year-old neighbor Dana Escoffier allegedly knocked him to the ground on Hudson St. near W. 10th St., just around the corner from the apartment building where both men lived, around 1:30 p.m. Oct. 11, cops said. Escoffier was arrested for assault and harassment after walking away from the sprawled-out victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just shattered my world,\u201d said the victim\u2019s husband, Rodger Kepler. \u201cI can\u2019t believe that he\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medics took Whetzel to Bellevue Hospital<\/a>, where he lay comatose for nearly a month, his skull fractured and brain bleeding, before dying Nov. 5.<\/p>\n

\u201c52 years is a very long time to be with someone and then all of a sudden, just lose him like that,\u201d said Kepler. \u201cI had four weeks, but there was no response. He didn\u2019t squeeze my hand. He wouldn\u2019t respond to the doctors. Nothing, nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DeanDean Conover Whetzel hit his head on the pavement after his neighbor, Dana Escoffier, allegedly knocked him to the ground on Hudson St. near W. 10th St. (Kerry Burke \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Kepler was 19 and already living in the West Village when he began dating then-32 Whetzel. But their budding romance appeared to die on the vine after Whetzel moved uptown and Kepler decided to end things with the man 13 years his senior.<\/p>\n

But a chance encounter in Central Park shortly after the breakup rekindled a flame that would burn until Whetzel\u2019s death more than half a century later, Kepler said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(A friend and I) were in the southeast corner of the Sheep Meadow. It was a cloudy day and there wasn\u2019t one person in the Sheep Meadow,\u201d said Kepler. \u201cAll of a sudden I saw a figure coming towards us and it was some guy walking his bicycle. It turned out to be Dean.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething had brought us together. He said, \u2018Give me a call, if you like, if you want to see me.\u2019 I came home that night and I thought, \u2018What were the chances of meeting someone you just broke up with in the middle of the Sheep Meadow in Central Park?\u2019 I called him and then we were together forever. We were never apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early in his career, Whetzel worked as an upscale fashion retailer, dressing stars including Sonny Bono, Cher, and John Lennon out of a Midtown storefront on 60th St. near Second Ave., Kepler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used to go to Milan and walk their fabrics through the factory and he\u2019d come back with suits and shirts and silk pajamas,\u201d Kepler said. \u201cHe had a very elite clientele.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DeanDean Conover Whetzel hit his head on the pavement after his neighbor, Dana Escoffier, allegedly knocked him to the ground on Hudson St. near W. 10th St. (Google)<\/p>\n

After losing his job in retail, Whetzel and Kepler went into business together, opening up Charles St. Laundromat in 1986 and attracted a similarly glamorous clientele.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had Cindy Crawford, we had Glenn Close, we had Charlie Rose, we had Bebe Neuwirth, we had Natalie Portman,\u201d said Kepler. \u201cIt was extraordinary. Every day a new celebrity would walk in to drop their laundry off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escoffier denied ever having met Whetzel in an interview with the Daily News earlier this week, despite living in adjoining buildings for decades. But Kepler said his husband used to wash the suspect\u2019s clothes at the laundromat.<\/p>\n

\u201cDana Escoffier, who\u2019s the man that did it, was a customer,\u201d said Kepler.<\/p>\n

After Escoffier allegedly shoved Whetzel, a witness saw him standing over the victim. \u201cI pushed him because he bumped into me,\u201d Escoffier said as he walked away, according to the criminal complaint against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man who was pushed fell down to the ground and the other guy started walking away,\u201c said Ethan Dank, 25, who was waiting tables at Cowgirl NYC when the incident occured outside. \u201cPeople surrounded the guy on the ground, trying to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DeanDean Conover Whetzel hit his head on the pavement after his neighbor, Dana Escoffier, allegedly knocked him to the ground on Hudson St. near W. 10th St. (Google)<\/p>\n

When police called Kepler, an officer told him their dog, Buddy was with Whetzel when he was pushed and had stayed by his master\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the ambulance came, Buddy tried to get into the ambulance with him and the police picked him up, took him up to the precinct,\u201d Kepler said. \u201cI had to come up and get the dog. So I did, brought him home and then I went to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Bellevue Hospital, Whetzel and lay in a coma unresponsive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sedated him and he laid there for four weeks. Never responded, never came to his senses. I went every day to see him, talk to him,\u201d Kepler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t want to be artificially kept alive. They took him off his life support. He died three days later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escoffier was released without bail following his Oct. 12 arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court. He pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

No mention was made of the victim\u2019s death at a follow up court hearing on Escoffier\u2019s case on Thursday and it remains unclear if the Manhattan DA\u2019s office will pursue any upgraded charges against the defendant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned that the victim passed away,\u201d Escoffier\u2019s lawyer, Omar Fortune, told the Daily News Thursday. \u201cMr. Escoffier is entitled to the presumption of innocence and we\u2019d ask all New Yorkers to afford him that presumption.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Julian Roberts-Grmela<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The husband of an 82-year-old West Village man who died weeks after a neighbor pushed him to the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":425732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,5249,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-425731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-manhattan","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-new-york-county","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-newyork","20":"tag-newyorkcity","21":"tag-ny","22":"tag-nyc","23":"tag-nyc-crime","24":"tag-sub-county-region","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115665235112866648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}