Tow Truck Tony
05-03-2006, 07:32 PM
I know there will always be crime, and beatings, and murders, but WHERE is the line?
Trentonian.com (http://trentonian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16574300&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6)
~from "The Trentonian" May 3, 2006 Trenton, NJ~
Joey Damiano, 29, is well-known in Chambersburg, often walking each day to visit neighbors, restaurants, and the Trenton firefighters and police officers, who he idolizes.
But on Friday night just one block from his Anderson Street home, Damiano was jumped and severely beaten by a group of six men on the corner of Washington Street and Roebling Avenue.
The punks stole his dollar and a roll of toilet paper and left him bleeding on the sidewalk.
"I want to know who did this to him," said his aunt and legal guardian, Tommasina Damiano. "They made him blind."
Damiano has been by her nephew’s side at two different hospitals since the brutal attack.
Joey Damiano is now at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia after short stay at St. Francis Medical Center, where doctors were unable to treat his damaged right eye.
In the last several days, surgeons at Wills have determined Damiano’s sight is gone in his right eye, which may have to be removed. He also suffered a broken cheekbone and CAT scans will determine if the beating damaged his brain, Tommasina Damiano said.
"There’s no hope. He has bright blue eyes, but you don’t even see his eyeball color -- that’s how much blood there is," she said.
The outraged family is crying out for help and answers.
They say he might have died if two men who passed by after the attack didn’t stop and carry him home, his family said.
Everyone in the city who knows Joey, including Mayor Doug Palmer, police, and firefighters, also say they are angry about the attack.
"We want justice for Joey," Palmer said yesterday. "He is like the heart and soul of Chambersburg, a wonderful human being who wouldn’t hurt anyone. This is an attack by cowards who teamed up on a helpless, frail, lovable young man for a buck."
Both Palmer and the police vowed to arrest the attackers, saying they shouldn’t be allowed to prey on the city’s most vulnerable residents.
"He’s a small kid known by the whole police department," said police spokesman Detective Sgt. Pedro Medina. "He’s one of those young men who wants to be a cop. He’s always asking questions and asking to see our badges. This incident just shows a total lack of respect for human value."
Firefighters at the headquarters of Engine 7 on Hamilton Avenue, where Joey frequently stopped by to chat and check out the fire engines, shook their heads in disbelief when they got word of the attack.
"We all know Joey. He’d come by a few days a week," said Scott Pasawicz, a driver at the station. "He loved the fire trucks. Sometimes we’d give him our old pants or boots and he’d walk around in them."
"We’re shocked. We can’t believe something like this would happen to an innocent, childlike young man."
But the firefighters said even as Joey Damiano lies in his hospital bed, there may be hope yet.
Damiano is mentally-challenged but very smart, his family said, and his friends at Engine 7 hoped he’d be able to remember the faces of his attackers.
Medina said police are intensely probing leads in the case and urged Chambersburg residents to step up to help Damiano. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Jose Pantoja at 609-989-4140 or the confidential tipline at 609-989-3663.
"The question is who did this," Tommasina Damiano said. "It’s attempted murder to beat somebody close to death like that." ~End Story
I have known Joey for about 6 years now, He always asks me to get him an orange strobe light to put on his bike so he can ride around all day turning the light on and off. He really is an ok guy, in fact he is COMPLETELY HARMLESS. He is just trying to live his life.
I mean, how fucking sick are these people, beat a retarded guy senseless just to rob him of a dollar, and then LEAVE him there......Now the kid will most likely need his eye removed, hopefully, he won't be completely blind.
What makes me even more pissed is that in the last few years, my brother, and one of my friends have both been mugged, and for way more than a buck, and they weren't even physically attacked, much less beaten half to death.
I'm sorry if any of you think that the thread space I used is a waste, but I just needed to vent, and maybe get a few opinions on what maybe the police here could do to keep this kind of crime form happening.......
The amount of crime in the once predominantly Italian section of Trenton (chambersburg) has increased 20 fold.....
I really don't want to say WHY the crime has increased in that section of town, but it DOES have to do with less people looking out for each other, less people owning homes, and more people of lower income brackets renting these homes under section 8, AND the influx of the illegal immigrants moving here and being all drunk and violent after a long night of partying at the 30 or so bars all within the 1.5 sq. mile area.
Things like foot patrol, cops actually getting to KNOW the residents of the area, and the officers being assigned to the SAME area for more than a couple of months would help to reduce this type of thing happening....
Also if the police were allowed to be a lil more forceful than they are, people would respect them more, and crime numbers would drop substantially.
Trentonian.com (http://trentonian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16574300&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6)
~from "The Trentonian" May 3, 2006 Trenton, NJ~
Joey Damiano, 29, is well-known in Chambersburg, often walking each day to visit neighbors, restaurants, and the Trenton firefighters and police officers, who he idolizes.
But on Friday night just one block from his Anderson Street home, Damiano was jumped and severely beaten by a group of six men on the corner of Washington Street and Roebling Avenue.
The punks stole his dollar and a roll of toilet paper and left him bleeding on the sidewalk.
"I want to know who did this to him," said his aunt and legal guardian, Tommasina Damiano. "They made him blind."
Damiano has been by her nephew’s side at two different hospitals since the brutal attack.
Joey Damiano is now at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia after short stay at St. Francis Medical Center, where doctors were unable to treat his damaged right eye.
In the last several days, surgeons at Wills have determined Damiano’s sight is gone in his right eye, which may have to be removed. He also suffered a broken cheekbone and CAT scans will determine if the beating damaged his brain, Tommasina Damiano said.
"There’s no hope. He has bright blue eyes, but you don’t even see his eyeball color -- that’s how much blood there is," she said.
The outraged family is crying out for help and answers.
They say he might have died if two men who passed by after the attack didn’t stop and carry him home, his family said.
Everyone in the city who knows Joey, including Mayor Doug Palmer, police, and firefighters, also say they are angry about the attack.
"We want justice for Joey," Palmer said yesterday. "He is like the heart and soul of Chambersburg, a wonderful human being who wouldn’t hurt anyone. This is an attack by cowards who teamed up on a helpless, frail, lovable young man for a buck."
Both Palmer and the police vowed to arrest the attackers, saying they shouldn’t be allowed to prey on the city’s most vulnerable residents.
"He’s a small kid known by the whole police department," said police spokesman Detective Sgt. Pedro Medina. "He’s one of those young men who wants to be a cop. He’s always asking questions and asking to see our badges. This incident just shows a total lack of respect for human value."
Firefighters at the headquarters of Engine 7 on Hamilton Avenue, where Joey frequently stopped by to chat and check out the fire engines, shook their heads in disbelief when they got word of the attack.
"We all know Joey. He’d come by a few days a week," said Scott Pasawicz, a driver at the station. "He loved the fire trucks. Sometimes we’d give him our old pants or boots and he’d walk around in them."
"We’re shocked. We can’t believe something like this would happen to an innocent, childlike young man."
But the firefighters said even as Joey Damiano lies in his hospital bed, there may be hope yet.
Damiano is mentally-challenged but very smart, his family said, and his friends at Engine 7 hoped he’d be able to remember the faces of his attackers.
Medina said police are intensely probing leads in the case and urged Chambersburg residents to step up to help Damiano. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Jose Pantoja at 609-989-4140 or the confidential tipline at 609-989-3663.
"The question is who did this," Tommasina Damiano said. "It’s attempted murder to beat somebody close to death like that." ~End Story
I have known Joey for about 6 years now, He always asks me to get him an orange strobe light to put on his bike so he can ride around all day turning the light on and off. He really is an ok guy, in fact he is COMPLETELY HARMLESS. He is just trying to live his life.
I mean, how fucking sick are these people, beat a retarded guy senseless just to rob him of a dollar, and then LEAVE him there......Now the kid will most likely need his eye removed, hopefully, he won't be completely blind.
What makes me even more pissed is that in the last few years, my brother, and one of my friends have both been mugged, and for way more than a buck, and they weren't even physically attacked, much less beaten half to death.
I'm sorry if any of you think that the thread space I used is a waste, but I just needed to vent, and maybe get a few opinions on what maybe the police here could do to keep this kind of crime form happening.......
The amount of crime in the once predominantly Italian section of Trenton (chambersburg) has increased 20 fold.....
I really don't want to say WHY the crime has increased in that section of town, but it DOES have to do with less people looking out for each other, less people owning homes, and more people of lower income brackets renting these homes under section 8, AND the influx of the illegal immigrants moving here and being all drunk and violent after a long night of partying at the 30 or so bars all within the 1.5 sq. mile area.
Things like foot patrol, cops actually getting to KNOW the residents of the area, and the officers being assigned to the SAME area for more than a couple of months would help to reduce this type of thing happening....
Also if the police were allowed to be a lil more forceful than they are, people would respect them more, and crime numbers would drop substantially.