This happened at Newark and Monmouth? Wow, this is a pretty horrific story. I feel very bad for the victim.

Wow this is a surprise, I saw Tony Monday night over by O'Connells. This is a definite shock. The bastards who did this can't hide for long and will pay.

I met Tony in 2001 when we were both campaigning for the Ward E Council seat. Even though we were campaigning for the same position we often would meet at various campaigning hotspots and campaign together. He has always been community oriented as his accomplishments well demonstrate. Outgoing and well-known to many in Jersey City, I am sorry he had to endure this indignity, but knowing Tony, he will bounce back from this too.

We all look forward to his swift and speedy recovery, and hope the JCPD will swifty apprehend the assailants.

All the best.

Geoff

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Tony is an amazing guy who despite his disability is active on many levels. Aside from his work with Freeholder, Eliu Rivera, he is also a member of the Jersey City Guardian Angels and was instrumental in their coming to JC.

I hope he is doing ok and they find these a$$holes soon.

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I see your point....

Anthony is a remarkable guy and is quite the charmer, I've never seen him without a huge smile on his face. This story is disgusting and to know that it happened to someone that I've known for a very long time makes it worse.

I wonder if the thugs who did this will be among those who line the parade route in august wrecking havoc on the neighborhood?

I dunno, that headline didn't get my PC hackles up. It lets you know that Mr. Torres was a prominent member of society, plus he was collecting money for the parade when the assault occurred. Feels kinda relevant.

The actual crime made my jaw drop.

It takes a special piece of sh*t to double-team an amputee.

I am just completely lost for words.

Sal's final comment along with mrrogers and Vigilante's replies express some of what I'm feeling right now!

Not since President of French Club Robbed of Lunch Money in my high school newspaper have I been so shocked by a headline. I mean, unless the guy had been mugged during the actual parade, his association to it has no relevance to this story. IMO.

Tony is not just in a wheel chair,he is a double amputee.
What f__king cowardly lowlifes those guys were.Its just wrong on so many levels......

Puerto Rican parade president brutally assaulted, robbed Downtown, he says
by Michaelangelo Conte
Friday May 09, 2008, 4:55 PM

The wheelchair-bound president of Jersey City's Puerto Rican Day Parade was brutally robbed by two men Downtown early this morning and pummeled with such force that he was knocked out of his wheelchair.

"When I realized he was about four feet away from me I covered up my face and he kneed me in my liver and knocked me right over," said Antonio Torres, 30, who was attacked at Newark Avenue and Monmouth Street while making his way home at 2:05 a.m. after a night out. "Once I was on the ground one of them put my arm behind my back and tried to keep me on the floor while the other guy went through my pockets."

Torres, of Montgomery Street, is also the chief of staff for Hudson County Freeholder Eliu Rivera, D-Jersey City.

Torres said he'd been selling raffle tickets to raise money for the Puerto Rican Day Parade and Heritage Festival and the thugs took an envelope containing $320 of the proceeds, as well as $10 of his own money.

While he was down one of the men punched him in the stomach but luckily another vehicle pulled up and the robbers ran back to their waiting getaway car and the driver sped them off, he said.

"I know I'm an easy target because I'm in a wheelchair but everyone knows who I am and all the cops know me, that's what leads me to believe they weren't from around here," said Torres, who is a community activist and once ran for city council.

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call the Jersey City Police Department's tipline at (201) 547-5245.

Copyright 2008 Jersey Journal



[Cue the ignorant, bigoted remarks about the JC Puerto Rican Day Parade...]