'Just Why, Why Do This?': 71-Year-Old Recovering From Brutal Attack In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Police are searching for the person who randomly attacked a man and left him questioning why he was made a target.
CBS2's Reena Roy reports from the Morissania section of the Bronx.
As he sits in his apartment with stitches on his face, 71-year-old Charles McLennon has just one question: "Why, just why?"
That same thought has been racing through his mind over and over since May 1 when police say the school bus driver was attacked at random by a man near Third Avenue and E. 167th Street just before 2:30 p.m.
Emergency workers rushed McLennon to the hospital with gashes on his face plus swollen eyes and cheeks.
"I think about it every day, I play it back every day," he said. "Every single second it goes through my head."
McLennon says he was walking towards his bus parked on the street and was planning to drive on his usual route to pick students up after school. That's when that suspect came at him from behind, completely unprovoked.
Investigators told CBS2 the man repeatedly hit McLennon with some kind of object until he was almost unconscious.
"Was going down that hill right there and feel someone hit me in the face," he said. "I tried to get up, got another blow here… Blood was all over the place."
The Bronx grandfather was in extreme pain but somehow able to call for help.
The suspect ran off. Police say he has medium length dreadlocks and was last seen wearing blue sweatpants with the words "Just Do It" on the left leg, blue and white sneakers and a dark blue hooded sweatshirt.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74682), logging onto the Crime stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enterings TIP577.
