Kenny Guido
Well-known member
Radio host victim of Bronx bat attack caught on video
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA AND JOSEPH MALLIA | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com and joseph.mallia@newsday.com 2:50 PM EDT, September 19, 2008 The host of a Spanish-language radio show in Boston was brutally beaten with a baseball bat outside a Bronx apartment building in an attack caught on a security video camera, NYPD officials said Friday.
Pelagio De La Cruz, 52, of Chelsea, Mass., was visiting his children in the Bronx when he was attacked Sunday morning, police said. His sons, 15 and 22, and his daughter, 18, live in the Bronx.
The video shows the attacker forcefully slamming the bat on the victim at least seven times after he fell to the ground outside 2640 Davidson Ave. at 3:35 a.m. Sunday. The attackers were driving nearby and saw De La Cruz walking, then decided to rob him, police said.
"They saw him as a target of opportunity for a robbery," NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.
De La Cruz remained unconscious in critical condition Friday at St. Barnabas Hospital, police said. He will need reconstructive surgery to his jaw and face and may lose an eye, police said.
De La Cruz hosts a show on WESX/1230-AM, a Spanish-language radio station in Boston.
The NYPD's 52nd Precinct released the graphic video so the public could help identify the two suspects wanted in connection with the robbery.
De La Cruz had arrived sometime before the attack and went out for drinks before returning to the building, police said.
Police said the victim was waiting to enter the residential building when one suspect came up behind him and hit him in the head with a baseball bat. The second suspect then came close and both bent over the battered victim and took a gold chain, his wallet and cell phone.
The two then escaped in a dark four-door sedan.
A woman who lives in the apartment building called 911 at 4 a.m. when she returned and saw De La Cruz lying outside. He had been there almost half an hour.
Anyone with information on the attack is asked to make a confidential call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also text their tips to 274637 (crimes), then enter tip577.
Staff writer Carl MacGowan contributed to this story.
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA AND JOSEPH MALLIA | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com and joseph.mallia@newsday.com 2:50 PM EDT, September 19, 2008 The host of a Spanish-language radio show in Boston was brutally beaten with a baseball bat outside a Bronx apartment building in an attack caught on a security video camera, NYPD officials said Friday.
Pelagio De La Cruz, 52, of Chelsea, Mass., was visiting his children in the Bronx when he was attacked Sunday morning, police said. His sons, 15 and 22, and his daughter, 18, live in the Bronx.
The video shows the attacker forcefully slamming the bat on the victim at least seven times after he fell to the ground outside 2640 Davidson Ave. at 3:35 a.m. Sunday. The attackers were driving nearby and saw De La Cruz walking, then decided to rob him, police said.
"They saw him as a target of opportunity for a robbery," NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.
De La Cruz remained unconscious in critical condition Friday at St. Barnabas Hospital, police said. He will need reconstructive surgery to his jaw and face and may lose an eye, police said.
De La Cruz hosts a show on WESX/1230-AM, a Spanish-language radio station in Boston.
The NYPD's 52nd Precinct released the graphic video so the public could help identify the two suspects wanted in connection with the robbery.
De La Cruz had arrived sometime before the attack and went out for drinks before returning to the building, police said.
Police said the victim was waiting to enter the residential building when one suspect came up behind him and hit him in the head with a baseball bat. The second suspect then came close and both bent over the battered victim and took a gold chain, his wallet and cell phone.
The two then escaped in a dark four-door sedan.
A woman who lives in the apartment building called 911 at 4 a.m. when she returned and saw De La Cruz lying outside. He had been there almost half an hour.
Anyone with information on the attack is asked to make a confidential call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also text their tips to 274637 (crimes), then enter tip577.
Staff writer Carl MacGowan contributed to this story.
