Five teenagers have been arrested for their involvement in the brutal ambush and beating of a Port Chester man that took place Saturday night on Winfield Avenue in Harrison, police say.
The attackers—all but one of whom are from Harrison—lured the male victim to the secluded street by pretending to be a girl interested in a meet up, police say. While the victim waited in his vehicle at about 10:30 p.m., police say three teenage males attacked him with sawed-off lacrosse sticks and clubs and then kicked him once he was on the ground.
The victim who, according to several published reports is 21 years old, suffered severe injuries including a deep cut on his head.
Two girls who police say helped lure the victim to the scene watched the beating from a nearby parked car, police say. The group of teens stole jewelry, sneakers and $100 cash before leaving the scene, police say.
Police have arrested three males, aged 15, 16 and 19, all from Harrison, and two 15-year-old females, one from Harrison and one from Rye. Police are not releasing the names of the charged because they are eligible for youthful offender status.
After the beating, the victim was able to leave the scene in his vehicle despite severe injuries. He flagged down a responding officer in the area moments later and was rushed to White Plains Hospital. A friend of the victim's family told Patch Monday evening that the victim was still in critical condition at that time.
There was still blood on the road at the scene of the attack Sunday morning.
"This is a cold-blooded, brutal, beating and robbery," said Harrison Police Chief Anthony Marraccini.
Police believe the motive for the incident dates back several months to a series of Facebook conversation between the victim and a teenage girl. After the chats cooled off between the two, police believe the girl broke contact with the victim, but offered a Blackberry Messenger phone number, saying that the number belonged to another female interested in meeting him.
Instead, police believe the phone number belonged to one of the attackers.
Police say the attackers used ensuing conversations to lure the unwitting male to meet with them on Winfield Avenue Saturday night. Police believe one of the female suspects even answered the phone at one point, pretending to be the fictitious girl.
"It was definitely planned and pre-meditated," Marraccini said.
Police do not believe the girl from the Facebook conversations was at the scene Saturday night. She has not been charged at this point, according to police.
Each of the five suspects was charged with robbery in the first degree and gang assault in the first degree—felonies. All were arrested Sunday morning and released on $10,000 bond.
Marraccini said although this is an isolated incident, it underscores the department's need for a bigger presence in Harrison's schools. He specifically cited his on-going desire to rebuild a detective youth division that has been because of budget cuts.
But the issue is not the schools. There will always be kids who have chosen wrong paths because of outside of school factors. you just dont hangout with those kids, and proven from this story, get involved with them..They arent just going around hallways beating kids up for no reason. Sure kids drink and some weed everywhere, that doesnt mean they do violent things. most of harrison high and other schools drink and smoke, but those are the only ones that have commited a serious violent crime.
Now your making stories to have the savage beating looked to be ok saying the girl was 14 come on man
yes a Harrison Police Sergeants Son
You age shows in your above comments and yes are you very green. Please save your comment somewhere safe perhaps in a memory box and open it up when you have children of your own (who are the same age) and then TELL US HOW YOU FEEL!! I am sure it will be the total opposite. Honestly you NOT being a parent and just a child yourself holds no water. These children brutally beat the crap out of this young man. There is NO justification for their actions.
And these comments are revealing details that are not part of the limited facts that have been in the press. Students at HHS are telling us in this forum that drugs/alcohol/intoxication are not only a problem in school but are also at play in this incident. In my opinion it all matters, whether you think its conjecture or not. Everyone here is troubled & concerned by what happened and we have to keep asking why it happened and how the factors that contributed to this incident can be eliminated. I'll come out and say, without blaming anyone for anything, that if parents are more aware and closely involved with their kids and everything they are doing then the probability of more incidents like this happening will be reduced if not entirely eliminated.
You entered this forum with a sarcastic comment about a post regarding a drug dealer (followed by "I can't read these posts any more") No one called you a bully or intolerant for that but God forbid we call someone ignorant for posting blatantly ignorant comments. You point on bullying is total nonsense.
Anonymous you have given the most concise accurate description and antidote to the maladies described by Michael Fiore. With your common sense you should not be anonymous.
You are right on the mark when you say we need to look at our youth and ask what they are thinking. That's exactly where our focus needs to be at all times. And you know who is responsible for doing that? PARENTS. That is the primary duty of a functional parent and in my opinion if all parents were carrying out that duty incidents like this one would rarely, if ever, occur. We all do make mistakes in our journeys as humans. We all DO NOT have children that have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact, most kids are NOT involved in incidents that warrant felony, gang assault charges (thank God). Your compassion for these kids is commendable, we should try to help anyone that is misguided. Prayers are a a great start towards that. The world isn't falling apart but we can't stop trying to make it a better place.