Another case of group therapy on an individual!

4 suspects, one a family friend, nabbed in mugging

Wednesday, January 02, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Four Jersey City teenagers rang in the new year by beating a Jersey City man unconscious in Bayside Park, and to add insult to injury, the victim knew one of the four boys as a family friend, police said.

Cops recovered $300 in cash and a cell phone taken from the 45-year-old victim, and the four boys - a 15-year-old, two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old, were charged with aggravated assault, robbery and receiving stolen property, reports said.

According to police, a man flagged down a patrol car on Garfield Avenue shortly after midnight Monday, and said a man had just been beaten and robbed in the park.

The officers found the 45-year-old victim lying unconscious in the grass and bleeding from the face, reports said. While they treated him, the witness pointed out a group of four boys walking north on Garfield and said, "It's those four guys right there," police said.

The cops followed the teens west on Woodlawn Avenue and detained them in a yard, reports said. One of them had blood stains on his jeans, and another had bloody cuts and scrapes on his right hand; all four were identified by the witness and the victim, police said.

While identifying his assailants, the victim told police that one of the 16-year-olds is a family friend, reports said.