The New York City Police Department said they have arrested a suspect wanted in connection with a beating in the Bronx that left a 38-year-old man comatose last week.
Nilson Castillo was arrested on Friday, Dec. 7, after surveillance camera footage showed him beating the unidentified victim just a few days earlier.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea announced the suspect’s arrest on Twitter.
In the video, the assailant and the victim speak to each other before the suspect suddenly punches the man in the face. After a brief struggle, the victim falls to the ground and the attacker continues to punch and kick him in the face and head. At one point, the attacker appears to remove headphones and other items. Then, he kicks the victim repeatedly before leaving. The footage captured the suspect returning to the scene, getting his hat before kicking the man one last time.
Basheer Alabdi, who is a deli worker, said the victim was drunk and had lost his wallet, according to the report.
“His friends in a van just dropped him off. He’d come from a party and he was drunk. He was talking [expletive] to everybody,” Alabdi said of the victim, describing what had happened before the incident took place.
Alabdi lamented that passersby didn’t try to help the victim while he was lying on the ground.
“Nobody did anything. He lay there for about 10 minutes,” Alabdi told the news outlet. “I was the one who called the cops.”
Further about the arrest or victim’s status are not clear.
Violent Crime Down in 2018
The FBI says that in 2017 violent crime had dropped by 0.2 percent, according to a release, but aggravated and rape offenses increased by a respective 1.0 percent and 2.5 percent. The murder rate dropped by 0.7 percent, the agency said.“In 2017, there were an estimated 1,247,321 violent crimes. The estimated number of robbery offenses decreased 4.0 percent, and the estimated number of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses decreased 0.7 percent when compared with estimates from 2016. The estimated volume of aggravated assault and rape (revised definition) offenses increased 1.0 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively,” said the FBI.
The agency added: “By violent crime offense, the arrest rate for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was 3.8 per 100,000 inhabitants; rape (aggregate total using the revised and legacy definition), 7.2; robbery, 29.3; and aggravated assault, 120.4 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Meanwhile, the FBI said that there are now 670,279 sworn officers and 286,662 civilian officers in the U.S, which is a rate of 3.4 employees per 1,000 inhabitants.