Send What Kind Of Message — Not To Post Incriminating Stuff On YouTube?

Or that maybe we need to rethink what constitutes chivalry:

The victim of the videotaped subway slugging that enraged the city and stunned straphangers is a handsome 27-year-old from Brooklyn who didn’t fight back because he didn’t want to hit a girl.

“I’m trying to get over it. It happened a month ago,” said Rafael Cruz, a manager at a Midtown H&M whom The Post tracked down yesterday.

He said he is mulling whether to press charges against the gang of teenage girls that attacked him, and will decide in the next couple of days whether to go to cops.

“Teenagers are allowed to make mistakes, but you need to learn from your mistakes,” he said.

The East New York native said he’s a “nonviolent person” and was never tempted to punch back at the girl bullies.

“I have a great family. My mother taught me the difference between right and wrong,” he said.

One acquaintance told The Post, “He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to hit a girl.”

The attack, in which the teen thugs berate and taunt Cruz before pummeling him with their fists and hitting him with a soda bottle, was captured on video and posted on the video Web site YouTube.

. . .

He believes it all began when he stepped on someone’s foot.

“They were getting loud, and I was just trying to ignore it,” he recalled, adding that he wasn’t hurt in the flurry of fists.

Meanwhile, an MTA spokesman urged Cruz to go to the cops.

“I’m fairly certain if he files a complaint . . . the NYPD will make an arrest, and those people will be brought to justice,” Paul Fleuranges said.

“It’s the only way the Police Department can do anything about what happened and send a message to others that you will be punished.”