Pack of teens ‘going crazy’ jump man & dog
An off-duty New York City firefighter who was walking his dog in a Queens park was attacked by a vicious mob of teens — one of whom kicked off the random beatdown by declaring it was “Fight Night,” the still-shaken victim told The Post Saturday.
The 44-year-old was strolling with his 3-year-old Labradoodle Dylan in Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village at around 9:55 p.m. Friday when he was suddenly targeted by the mob, he said.
“There were at least 100 kids . . . I was walking my dog. They just picked me out and approached me,” the still-shaken victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said Saturday afternoon.
“One kid took his shirt off and said, ‘It’s Fight Night!’ He said he was 19 and said, ‘I could fight you.’ Everyone took their cellphones out. There were cellphones everywhere,” he explained. “They all came at me . . . A kid came up behind me and hit me in the back of the head with a bottle and I let go of the dog.”
In video footage obtained by The Post, the mob can be seen closing in on their victim, who puts up his dukes as Dylan vainly barks in protest, attempting to protect his human best friend.
“Give him a shot! Give him a shot! Give him a shot!” one teen repeatedly yells, the video shows.
“Yo, what the f--k!” shouts a stunned onlooker as the unidentified victim is pummeled.
“Old guy with a dog got f--ked up,” one teen is seen texting in the video.
The victim continued: “They didn’t care at all. The kids were going crazy. They were as high as a kite. I got hit, turned around, that’s when the kids started coming at me . . . Then I was on the floor, holding one kid and an ambulance pulled up . . . They were waiting by the park . . . If they weren’t there I would have been in much worse condition.”
Added the dad of three: “I’m a little lumped up. What are you going to do? Thank god I’m still here. It could have been worse.”
Police on Saturday confirmed to The Post that the victim was struck in the head with a glass bottle at 75th Street and Juniper Boulevard North. No arrests were made. The pooch, who was scooped up by a good Samaritan, was not hurt.
The victim, who turned down a trip to the hospital, said “there have been lots of incidents” recently in the park, which has become a haven for out-of-control teens from all over the borough.
“Kids are getting bikes stolen, an older man got beaten,” he said, adding he found three knives Saturday in the park that he planned to turn in to police.
The victim said one group of kids was irritated when he scolded them about jumping the fence of a daycare center across from the park. Another resident, who was not harmed, complained about illegal fireworks being set off.
“This is a tight community . . . kids with bikes . . . Maybe I’m old school, but there’s no respect,” the firefighter added.
Juniper Valley Park is located within the 104th Precinct, where most crime numbers are down, but where auto theft is up 52 percent this year, with 111 incidents reported through July 18 as compared to 73 at the same time last year, NYPD data show. The precinct also saw an 11 percent uptick in rapes this year (10) compared to last year (9), according to the data.
GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, said he was alerted to the incident by locals and that his group began patrolling the park starting 6 p.m. Saturday.