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CBS2 Exclusive: Man Attacked By Strangers In Bayswater, Queens; Suspects At Large

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Queens community was on high alert Friday evening, after a man was beaten and robbed in a quiet neighborhood as he left a religious service.

As CBS2's Ilana Gold reported exclusively, Binyamin Mayefsky said he was mugged at Bay 25th Street and Bessemund Avenue in the Bayswater section of Queens on the Rockaway Peninsula.

"I was scared," Mayefsky said. "I just wanted to get away from it as soon as I can."

He had just left a service at his rabbi's home at 9:30 p.m. on April 26, and was walking home when he said he was attacked.

"Someone came over to me and asked me for directions somewhere, and catch me off guard – and then some people started punching me," Mayefsky said.

He said the stranger and two other men beat him up, and stole his wallet and cellphone. They also took his yarmulke, glasses and coat.

"I was bruised up all over my face," Mayefsky said.

Mayefsky, a husband and father of three, stumbled to his house a few doors down and called 911.

"I hear my husband came home, and he's crying. He's screaming," said the victim's wife, Hava Mayefsky. "I'm thinking, 'What's going on?' and I come downstairs, and he's all bruised."

Weeks later, the three perpetrators still have not been caught.

So the local citizens' patrol from Rockaway is now posting fliers across the area, letting everyone know about the crime and looking for help. The community is putting up a $2,000 reward for any information leading to the arrests.

"There is a holiday weekend coming up," said Sholem Klein of the Rockaway Nassau Safety Patrol, "and we would like to get these individuals off the streets."

Community leaders are asking anyone who might have video of the incident to come forward and show it to police.

"It is very important that there is a feeling for every family can walk the streets, can go to the parks, and that there's a safe environment," state Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, D-Queens, said.

Mayefsky just hoped someone knows something.

"I pray someone does, and that this be resolved, and the people be brought to justice," he said.

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