New Haven Independent

The attack comes just days after East Rockers on Lawrence, Avon and Cottage Street gathered en masse to talk about setting up block watches.

Neighbor Nancy McLaren saw the attack and called police. She was sitting on the stoop at 117 Lawrence St. at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday when, through the bushes, she saw “three guys attacking another guy, pummeling the shit out of him.” The attackers, three teenagers, aged 16 or 17, were laughing and kicking and punching the man. Her husband called 911.

McLaren ran onto the sidewalk. “I started yelling at the guys and they ran away.” She waited with the victim, a 27-year-old man who lives on Avon Street, until an ambulance arrived. He had a gash on his face, was badly bruised, and was bleeding from his ear, she said.

McLaren said the man had been taking a walk around the block when he was jumped from behind. He didn’t see his attackers to identify them. They were the same age as the students he teaches, but there was no reason to think they knew him, she said. She said the man did not have a wallet, but the assailants didn’t appear to ask for money anyway. They just “pummeled” him. “It was totally random.”

McLaren said her husband picked up the man from the hospital Monday morning. His cheekbone had been shattered and he will need reconstructive surgery, she said.

Police made no arrests and are calling the incident a simple assault, not an attempted robbery. Neighbors Monday reacted to the news in shock.

“This kind of attack is very scary, especially in a quiet street and around 10 p.m..,” wrote a nearby resident in an e-mail. She had heard screams from inside her apartment and called 911. “What should we do? Stay inside after 9 p.m.?”

Tatinge Nascimento, who lives at 113 Lawrence St., says she’s having trouble getting a block watch started. So many of the houses are rentals, she said. But she wants something done: “There’s blood on my sidewalk. I have to be involved.”

A neighbor across the street had the opposite reaction. “I’m outta here,” said Cheryl Delucia, who came to New Haven from Milford. Would she be interested in starting a block watch? “I think the block watch, overall, is a great idea. But you get crime, you start reporting it, and the [property] value goes down.”

Monday, Tatinge Nascimento kept trying. She spoke with anyone walking by — “Did you see what happened?” She wants to get descriptions of the suspects out. “I am sure that if there is no police follow up, the situation is not going to get any better.”