Video of attack on radio show host released

Video of attack on radio show host released
Police hope it will help locate assailants

By Jonathan Saltzman and Christine Hauser
New York Times / September 20, 2008

A Boston-area radio talk show host was viciously beaten with a baseball bat during a robbery in front of a Bronx apartment building, according to New York City police, who released a harrowing surveillance video yesterday of the attack.

Pelagio de la Cruz, 52, of Lynn, who hosts a Spanish-language call-in show on WESX-AM in Chelsea, was attacked in front of a building in the University Heights neighborhood shortly after 3:30 a.m. Sunday when he returned after an evening out. He was in New York visiting his children, who live in the building with their mother, his estranged wife, police said.

Police said two men had apparently seen de la Cruz on the street and followed him to the doorway of the building, where de la Cruz had been pushing the button to try to get in. One man came up behind him and swung at his head with the bat, hitting him seven more times after he fell to the ground. The other man rifled through de la Cruz's pockets. They stole his wallet and a cellphone, then fled in a dark-colored car, police said.
click post title for more