Michael Palacios, 31, told the NY Post that he was using the ax in a bid to scare people in McDonald’s who punched and jumped him on Friday.
He explained: ‘Think about it. If you only think that the thing you can protect yourself with is a gun, we’re all going to go to f–king jail.
‘With a hatchet, I have my options — throw it or just smash a f–king table. With a gun. all you do is shoot.’
Footage of the violent incident posted online shows Palacios in the Delancey Street McDonald’s trying to speak to a woman and asking for her number.
The person who took the video, who is an Uber Eats driver, claimed that Palacios had grown angry when she rejected him and began to smash up the restaurant.
However, the 31-year-old tells a different version of events and says that he began to use the ax because of an argument which erupted after a security guard did not let him use the toilet.
He said that after he pleaded with the guard to open up the bathroom, things turned nasty after he became frustrated.
It then escalated into a disagreement and he slapped one of the men in the restaurant before three customers punched and jumped him.
While he appears calm in the video, he says he was processing everything before he launched his ax rampage to intimidate the men in the restaurant and show them it was real and not a toy.
Michael Palacios, 31, pictured, told the NY Post that he was using the ax in a bid to scare people in McDonald’s who punched and jumped him on Friday
The delivery worker said that Palacios was visibly ‘drunk’ in the buildup to his blowup, telling the paper ‘I [could] smell the liquor off him.’
Palacios was seen in the footage taking punches from the men before calmly producing the axe from his backpack, which he then begins wielding in the air and threatens those around him.
The three others with whom he had been fighting with quickly run for cover with some hiding in a disabled toilet, while others run to the back of the restaurant in the hope of escaping.
But the aggressor appears to have a score to settle and begins using his axe to destroy furniture causing thousands of dollars of damage.
After the rampage, Palacios fled the scene on his bike but was picked up a short time later by police on nearby Ludlow Street, the driver said. Police were able to track him down in part because of the widely shared footage of the incident
He is seen throwing the ax down against several of the restaurants tables which are smashed into tiny pieces.
He also slams the axe against a glass panel which shatters immediately on impact, before cornering one of his previous attackers who proceeds to plea for mercy while cowering against a wall.
He then slaps one of the men he was fighting with out of his chair – while menacing other scared diners, at one point shouting, ‘Don’t be afraid of me, be afraid of him!’
After the rampage, Palacios fled the scene on his bike but was picked up a short time later by police on nearby Ludlow Street, the driver said. Police were able to track him down in part because of the widely shared footage of the incident.
Palacios – who social media collectively dubbed ‘the axe man’ upon seeing the footage – was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, three counts of menacing and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Palacios insisted that he did not start to smash up the restaurant because of the woman rejecting him
The 31-year-old has insisted that the ax attack had nothing to do with the woman rejecting him.
Palacios explained that he spoke to her while he was smashing up the restaurant and told her not to be friends with ‘punk ass dudes’ so she could avoid situations like the one he was in.
Afterwards he shook her hand, in response to what he described as an intense situation.
Palacios said that he did what anyone else would have done if they were being attacked.
He also said that the attack is not something most people train to do and added that he was lucky to have been able to fight off three people as a regular guy.
The 31-year-old said he did what anyone else would have done if they were being attacked
Palacios was already in a bad mood that day as he had earlier lost his job at a local brewery for being late.
The 31-year-old said that he carries the ax with him because of a previous attack in Chicago but also as he likes to go camping.
He has insisted that he did not want to ‘chop up’ the people who he set upon with an ax and added that he is not a loose cannon, unhinged or psychotic.
The decision for Palacios to walk free had attracted some controversy but he questioned why he needs to be in jail.
Speaking of New York, he said that there has always been crime there, adding that he was hit on the head with a hammer 10 years ago.
He played down his incident with the ax, saying he hit a table with it and maintained that things are getting better in New York.
Palacios, pictured, was already in a bad mood that day as he had earlier lost his job at a local brewery for being late
Palacios was arraigned on fourth-degree criminal-mischief and possession-of-weapons charges, and neither charge is eligible for bail under the state’s relaxed criminal-justice reforms.
He even responded to the incident on Instagram, and said ‘After the 5 minute police chase through the lower East side the NYPD told me “that was a fun chase.”‘
‘Traffic was weak and I couldn’t get out of the neighborhood I fell of my bike making a hair pin turn from the street to the sidewalk, landing on my shoulder and dislocating it,’ he continued in the post.
‘They took me to the hospital and than jail. And now I’m out. Some of you want me to go to jail? Already did! Haha. So Have a great day,’ he gloated.
Palacios has since been released and has retained an attorney for the impending trial for the charge leveled against him, the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office told DailyMail.com.
His attorney, the DA said, is Jamie Niskanen-Singer from Legal Aid. Attempts made by DailyMail.com Sunday to contact Niskanen-Singer were not immediately successful.
It is likely that Palacios will argue he acted in self defense.
Palacios, pictured, has since been released and has retained an attorney for the impending trail for the charge leveled against him, the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office told DailyMail.com.