A shady New York City physique piercer repeatedly jabbed a girl’s tongue with a needle, inflicting “massive bleeding” and extreme accidents that landed her in the ER, a new lawsuit alleges.

Elsa Weingeist, 25, visited Funky Town on St. Marks Place in the East Village in September to get a tongue stud — lured by a storefront promoting “body piercings.”

But the psychiatric workplace employee and East Village native regretted the choice within minutes — and spent weeks in agony after the doomed piercing session with worker Shamim Islam, according to a lawsuit she filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Oct. 16. 

Elsa Weingeist, 25, said she was left in such agony that she could hardly discuss after the tongue mishap. Courtesy of Elsa Weingeist

The process allegedly turned into a bloody nightmare, with Islam stabbing through her tongue at least 4 occasions, despite assuring her everything would go easily, the swimsuit said.

“He just kept poking and poking — it’s like a horror movie,” one of Weingeist’s attorneys, Darius A. Marzec, advised The Post.

Weingeist advised The Post that she had to beg Islam to cease.

“It was mostly just him apologizing that he was messing up and asking to do it again and I could only take it so many times so I told him just he needed to stop after the fourth time,” she recalled.

She then demanded to see his piercing license — which he didn’t have, she claimed. She took a nearer look at the credentials displayed on the wall and found that none of them were for piercings — and none displayed Islam’s title, she said.

He allegedly stabbed her tongue 4 occasions before he lastly stopped. Courtesy of Elsa Weingeist

“Nobody in there had a piercing license,” she said. “I had confidence in him [before the piercing] because he had told me that he’d been doing this a long time.”

Her mouth was allegedly stuffed with blood when she dialed 911, but Weingeist said she and her good friend left the store before police arrived because emergency responders were taking too lengthy.

She sought out medical consideration at an pressing care, which advised her she had to go to the hospital.

In the emergency room, Weingeist said she got bloodwork achieved and acquired a tetanus shot. Doctors advised her the grueling therapeutic course of would take time, she claimed.

“It was so painful. It was hard to talk,” she said.

Weingeist, a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate, is searching for unspecified damages. 

Standard tongue piercings are achieved with a clamp and one clear go through the tongue and take about six to eight weeks to heal. Islam used a clamp, but penetrated Weingeist’s tongue several occasions, the lawsuit claims.

Funky Town, which has been a fixture in the neighborhood for almost twenty years, has been the topic of terrible Yelp evaluations for years.

“Absolutely never come here for piercings…it’s been 8 months and it’s still not healed,” claims one from October 2025.

Funky Town said the alleged sufferer is only suing because she desires cash. Helayne Seidman for NY Post

Another testimonial from July 2025 reads: “Do not go here for a piercing. I got mine 4 months in the past. It is still bleeding. I took care of it and cleaned it. Both me and my good friend skilled the same bleeding.

“They never once asked for an ID or paperwork when we walked in which seems illegal for a piercing place. We’re of age to get it so I don’t think I’d return here. They were also very pushy for us to pay more money and get more piercings. There were flies and bugs swarming the piercing room. Not really sanitary.”

“The piercer has no idea what he’s doing,” a evaluation from November 2020 reads. “He uses the wrong jewelry and the piercing came out crooked. Couple days later, it was infected.”

When reached by cellphone, a Funky Town worker advised The Post that Islam give up shortly after the alleged incident.

She claimed Weingeist is only suing because “she wants money.” The employee admitted that Islam was not licensed to do piercings, but others in the retailer are.

“You don’t like [the piercing], take it out it’s not a problem,” she said.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which is accountable for licensing piercing studios, the New York State Department of Health, and the NYPD did not return requests for remark.