Photo of the real Shia via Flickr user Tabercil
On Saturday, after dinner with friends, Mario Licato was headed to the subway when he was sucker-punched by a six-foot-tall guy built like a "frat boy," according to witnesses. The punch sent Licato tumbling down a flight of stairs in the subway station, and while he was falling backward he heard his assailant yell out, "This is because you look exactly like Shia LaBeouf!"When Licato got up, his glasses were broken in half and he was bleeding, not unlike Shia himself on the set of Transformers 2. Helpful passersby got him to his feet, and a less-than-helpful crew of EMT were called to check on his injuries, telling the born and raised New Yorker, "welcome to New York, buddy."Licato, an art director at an ad agency, told Gothamist he's been told frequently over the years that he looks like LaBeouf, and has even been stopped in the street by mistaken fans. Still, the surprise attack has left him befuddled and deeply unsettled."I wanna know what Shia LaBeouf did to him," Licato said. "What did Shia LaBeouf do to him that he punched somebody that looks like him?"Licato has clearly never seen Shia's freestyle rap video.This post has been updated.