Man brutally beaten on Bronx sidewalk as woman stands lookout
MOTT HAVEN, Bronx (WABC) -- The search is on for the people behind a vicious attack in the Bronx that left a man with serious head injuries.
It's still not clear why the victim was targeted. He was attacked in the middle of the night in Mott Haven, while a woman stood lookout.
The attack was caught on surveillance video, which shows a man approaching 52-year-old James Smith as he is walking near Park Avenue and 140th Street around 1:15 a.m. on March 24.
The man started punching Smith in the face. He fell to the ground, where he was punched and kicked repeatedly until he lost consciousness.
The man and woman then calmly walked away, leaving the victim on the ground. He was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he remains in critical condition with a fractured skull and in a coma.
Smith's family said it was a full three days after the incident before they even knew he was in critical condition.
His siblings have been keeping watch over their brother on behalf of their elderly mother.
"We are praying and hoping that he comes through completely and I just want to say whoever did this horrible thing, turn yourself in," family friend Judy Brandon said. "No one deserves this, regardless of what the outcome of life is, to be beaten to a pulp is really sad."
Police say the first individual is a light-skinned man last seen wearing a red baseball cap, a dark-colored hooded sweater, dark-colored sweatpants and dark-colored sneakers.
The second individual is a light-skinned woman last seen wearing blue hooded sweater, maroon sweatpants and black and white sneakers.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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