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Teen Describes Brutal McCarren Park Knife-Bat-Brick Beating
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 12, 2012
Modified Jul 13, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 12, 2012
Modified Jul 13, 2012
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Last Friday night, a 16-year-old was savagely beaten and nearly stabbed to death by a group of teens while walking home through McCarren Park. That victim, identified as Carlos, spent five days in the hospital, and now has 27 stitches and four staples in his head. His mother lamented to WPIX about the lack of police in the park: "There's not enough protection in that park," she told them. "And thanks be to God, it's a miracle from God that he made it."
Carlos, a baseball player, described to WPIX what he remembered of the brutal beating, which took place around 9:20 p.m. near Driggs and Union Avenues. Carlos believes there were as many as 15 teen attackers (three have been arrested and charged so far). He says they started by bashing him in the head with a brick, then someone beat his head and back with a baseball bat. Other members then stabbed him with a butcher knife and gravity knife, while yet more teens hit him with broken bottles. "The last thing I remember was sitting on the sidewalk with blood all over my head," he said.
An eyewitness described the attack to A Walk In The Park: "It was the whole group, everybody was getting their punches in. They seemed hell bent on killing this kid." The witness called 911 and yelled at the attackers, which caused them to flee. Argenis Zarzuela, 18, Seth Martinez, 16, and Kenny Nunez, 15, have been arrested for the attack—all three have been charged with attempted murder, gang assault, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing.
Geoffery Croft of the NYC Parks Advocates faults the city for assigning cops to McCarren Park Pool while neglecting the actual park. He also told us he recently sent the Parks Department and the mayor's office an email blasting the city for lying about the level of parks enforcement in city parks: "Despite what the Parks Department says, there's not a single park enforcement officer available for patrol in Brooklyn. They're not out in parks patrolling, like a beat cop. They've lost 42% of their officers since 2008, and the remaining ones are assigned to beaches and pools."
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assault
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beating
brooklyn
brutal
mccarren park
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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