Man Speaks After Being Beaten Unconscious With Bat In Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police in Queens were looking Thursday for a group of men who viciously beat a man with a bat just to steal his cellphone.
As CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported, Jorge Huerta was left with 20 stitches in his head, two broken ribs, and bruises all over his body following the attack this past Sunday night.
Huerta, 21, was convinced that the attack would leave him dead.
"I was leaving the park after playing soccer," Huerta said in Spanish.
The attack happened around 9:30 p.m. Huerta said he had just finished playing soccer with his friends inside Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and was walking home when six to eight men jumped him -- still in the park near 49th Avenue and 111th Street.
He said at least one man was beating him with a bat, and the blows to his head left him unconscious. When he awoke, he realized the attackers had taken off with his LG smartphone.
People in the park on Thursday were upset by the violence.
"It's too bad -- just for a cell phone?" one parkgoer said. "I never hear nothing so bad like that around this – especially in the park, especially in the park -- because we feel very secure here," another said.
It was dark when Huerta was walking home. He said he had his head down looking at his phone when the men jumped him, so he says he didn't see them coming and had no idea where they came from.
Police and the Department of Parks and Recreation made their rounds through the park Thursday, but very few people were in the area when Huerta was attacked.
"Random hours, it's pitch black in here. Nobody's really around," said park visitor Raul Escobar. "So if you're going to be here in the park at that time, it's not smart to be here by yourself."
"There's people that come out just to prey on people," added Robert Williams of Corona, Queens. "And this is a big wide area, no cameras -- everyone knows that. It says leave at dusk. You should just leave at dusk."
Huerta said he will not make the same dangerous decision again.
