"They seemed hell bent on killing this kid." - Witness
McCarren Park - Driggs and Union Avenue entrance where the gang entered on Friday night. Yesterday children played a few feet away from where the final attack occurred near the baseball field. Brooklyn does not have a single dedicated Park Enforcement Patrol officer to patrol more than four thousand acres of park land. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click image to enlarge.
Brooklyn
By Geoffrey Croft
A mob of approximately 8 high school age boys chased a 16-year-old boy from the soccer fields in the park across from MaCarren Pool to a baseball field across the street. The gang surrounded the terrified teen and beat him. The incident happened just before 9:30pm.
Scene Of The Crime - According to an eyewitness, the majority of the beating took place between the bench and the small tree (r). The bystander called 911 from bench and spoke to the dispatcher from that area. He did not exit the park until the victim was escorted out by his friends and police were already on their way.
A witnesses saw the group attack the boy with bats, broken bottles and a knife.
A couple was sitting on a park bench across from the backstop of Patrolman Stephen Gilroy Field enjoying a night in the park when they heard what they first thought was a celebration. They saw a large group running from the soccer field shouting. The pack came into the park from the Driggs and Union Avenue entrance and ran towards the couple on an asphalt path. They soon realized what they were seeing was a horrifying vicious assault.
According to a witness the teens began their attack in earnest in the grass just beyond the bench where the couple sat.
"From where I was it looked like they were stabbing him in the lower back," said the witness.
"They were swinging baseball bats, punching him and throwing things. They hit him with a bottle. It was the whole group, everybody was getting their punches in. They seemed hell bent on killing this kid."
The victim fell within a few feet in front of the eyewitness who quickly spray into action and called the police.
"I called 911 and yelled at the mob that the police were coming and that they should run which caused them to flee," said the hero Brooklynite who prefers to remain anonymous.
"Unfortunately, the victim had been beaten quite severely by then and stabbed but he was still conscious."
The pack scattered out of the park and headed southbound on Driggs Ave. After the mob fled the victim stumbled across the asphalt path into the grass on the baseball field side, where another person helped him up. He walked with him a few steps and then suddenly began punching the bloodied boy in the face before the bystander chased him away as well. He ran out of the southeast corner of the park following the other assailants.
The victim's friends including his brother - some wearing baseball uniforms - came over. They tried to apply shirts to his back to stop the bleeding. They helped him out of the park and to the sidewalk on Driggs and Union Avenues where police and EMS arrived a short while later.
The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
The NYPD arrested three suspects on 7th and Driggs Avenue not long after.
The bystander and his friend at first thought it was a baseball team celebrating.
"The park was virtually empty," he said. "We were just commenting on how quite the park was. It happened so quick. It was crazy to see this happen."
He added that both he and his female friend were "really shaken up," seeing the violence.
He called the incident "disturbing, disgusting and pathetic."
"I hope he's ok, and he recovers and there are no retaliatory incidents."
According to the Police said the victim suffered multiple wounds to his back and head and was hit with brick over his left eye, punched and kicked and stabbed with a knife multiple times.
According to the eyewitness who said he spoke to one of the victim's friends, it appeared the attackers initiated the incident by hitting the victim in the head with a brick before chasing him into the park. They may know each other from the same high school. He said friends of the victim hesitated to try to help because one of the attackers apparently was known to be carrying a gun.
Three hispanic males have been arrested so far in connection with the incident. Argenis Zarzuela, 18, of Sutter Avenue in Brooklyn, and a 16, and 15-year-old. All three have been charged with Attempted Murder, Gang Assault, Assault, Reckless Endangerment, Criminal Possession of a weapon, and Menacing.
Read/View More:
PIX 11 - July 11, 2012 - By Kirstin Cole
Eyewitness News - July 11, 2012 - By Stacey Sager
gothamist - July 11, 2012 - By Ben Yakas
New York Magazine - July 11, 2012 - By Margaret Hartmann
DNAinfo - July 10 2012 - By Meredith Hoffman
Metro NY - July 10, 2012 - By Alison Bowen
Yes, look no further then cooper projects, gangs and drugs and violence has been coming from those projects since they were built! ! I know I lived there.
ReplyDeleteHow disgusting and sad. :(
ReplyDeleteSutter Ave is nowhere near Cooper PJ's.
ReplyDelete