Legal Question in Employment Law in New York

I was terminated from my position as a retail manager because of an incident that occurred between myself and a female employee. What had happened was that the employee was asking me to process a transaction, I told her to hold on as I was in the middle of filling out paperwork for a previous transaction. She kept poking me playfully in the back to get me to process her transaction and for the most part I was just ignoring her and telling her to hold on. After a few minutes she pinched me really hard on the back of my arm, I was startled and because it hurt I reacted by turning around to move her away...We were in a space no less than five feet wide and when I turned around to move her away from me my reaction which was only intended to move her away ended up looking like I put my hand around her neck and pushing her against the wall. I immediately let go and told her she had to stop poking and pinching me...she replied by saying that I shouldn't do that and pointing to the cameras. There was also another employee there when all of this took place. I left the area and went upstairs to the office, she came to the office and asked me if I was ok , I said yes and apologized , she said she was also sorry and we hugged and went on with our day.

From what I have been told -The other employee who was also there informed my co-manager of what had happened when she came back from lunch. The Co-manager called the employee (who I had had the incident with) to the office, without me being there, and questioned her as to what had happened. The same employee called me right after and told me that she had just been to the office and that my co-manager had asked her what had happened, she said she told her" it was nothing and that we were just horsing around". She went on to add that my co-manager was telling everyone that she was going to make a big deal about this. I told her not to worry and to continue with calling her clients. I was off the next two days and I received a text from my co-manager that said she was deeply disturbed and that she was thinking about bringing this incident to human resources..The next day I went to work and received a call from corporate saying that I needed to come in. I went in and they asked me if I knew why I was there ...I replied that it was most likely because of the incident that had happened between the employee and myself. I tried to explain what happened but I was in shock and a bit nervous...I was told that I was being terminated for misconduct...I was told that they had only found out about it that morning and there was no paperwork, but that they would be in touch with me in a few days. I filed for unemployment which I received for one week then I received a letter from the dept of labor stating that I was being denied benefits because I was terminated for misconduct " BECAUSE AN ASSOCIATE TOOK ME BY THE ARM TO GET MY ATTENTION TO RING A TRANSACTION - I RESPONDED BY THROWING THE ASSOCIATE AGAINST THE WALL, PLACING BOTH HANDS AROUND HER THROAT AND INTO A CHOKE HOLD" This statement coming from my old employer. I feel that even though I reacted in an unprofessional way it was just that a reaction caused by pain.

I filed for an appeal hearing which I just found out is tomorrow. I tried to get a legal aid lawyer but because of the short notice I was told to reschedule the hearing. I tried to contact the employee that was also involved in this incident but she refuses to take my calls. Some colleagues have said that I should claim self defense. I took this job because the senior VP who I had worked for at another company asked me to come on board, I was working at another company for two years and he promised me the world to join him. Not that it matters but I am positive that my co-manager saw this as a way to get rid of me, as we were both in contention for the General Managers position.

Do I have any chance of getting a favorable decision?

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