I don't know if it was staged, but i am skeptical. The reason why is the photograph of the guy covered in blood. It's obvious that he has suffered a bloody nose and maybe been punched in the mouth, but that all the blood on his body is smeared over him rather than being from multiple injuries. I have been in a lot of fist fights in my life, including groups rather than 1 on 1, and had a good few bloody noses. Such an injury doesn't leave you covered in blood like that. All the blood on his body is smeared, and so is all the blood on his pants - note there aren't any tears in the fabric. A bloody nose bleeds a lot but it doesn't spray all over the place.

It's conceivable this his shirt got pulled off during the fight, but equally conceivable that he took it off and wiped blood on himself. I've seen people fake injuries at political demonstrations, using the old pro wrestling trick of making a small cut in the hairline with a sharp blade (scalp wounds bleed a lot because there are so many capillaries on the head). I can't say this is what's happened here, but it just doesn't look consistent with real violence.

Another reason I'm skeptical of the reported account is that there's no mention of injuries to his female companion. If it were a regular mugging or carjacking, you'd expect to read the woman was pushed to the ground and her bag taken. This could be poor quality reporting, but stories like this generally include a catalogue of all victims' injuries.

Article including the photo I'm describing: https://abcnews.go.com/US/19-year-former-doge-worker-assault...