2 Charged In Brutal Attack On Wall, N.J. Homeless Man After Video Posted On YouTube
WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Police say two young men have been charged in connection with an assault of a homeless man after videos of the attacks were posted on YouTube.
The videos, which have since been taken down, show a young man walking into a wooded area in Wall Township.
The homeless victim is 50-year-old David Ivins, who was attacked, police said, by two young people, one armed with a camera.
"What we're gonna do is attack this bum," one of the alleged attackers is heard saying on the video.
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Wall Township Police arrested 20-year-old Taylor Giresi of Belmar, and a 17-year-old from Lake Como, who allegedly recorded the blood sport, reports CBS 2's John Slattery.
The victim is also seen on tape being tackled, punched, pushed, kicked, kneed and mocked by his assailants.
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"Just dive on him! Dive on him!'' the cameraman says.
The two then say they are going to steal the homeless man's bike.
"No, I need my bike!'' the victim says back.
Smiling at the camera, the young man is seen running off with the bike as the cameraman says "Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or whatever the (expletive) you are.''
A second video posted on YouTube, which has also been removed, seems to show a different attack in which the same man is seen punching, kicking and knocking the same homeless man to the ground.
The video shows the homeless man as he slowly gets up with a bloody nose, struggling to regain balance.
"Oh, my God, you're bleeding!'' says the cameraman. "We didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Wipe off the blood.''
The video then shows the young man go to hug the homeless man but then knees him in the stomach.
That's when the victim screams and the two decide to leave.
"Alright, he's screaming, he's drawing attention. We're out," one of them says.
But not before the young man is seen running up and kicking the victim in the head.
"You gave him the big boot!'' the cameraman says. "The big boot!''
In a statement on its website, Wall Township Police said they became aware of the video on Sunday and said an investigation determined that the victim is a Wall resident "who often finds himself homeless."
"The video showed that the subjects involved took advantage of the victim's unfortunate circumstance and targeted him on two separate occasions due to his financially destitute situation," said police in the statement.
"It was overactive, aggressive, for no reason other than for their amusement," Det. William Bono later told CBS 2's Slattery.
Both suspects face aggravated assault, conspiracy, robbery and theft charges. The one charged as an adult is being held on $111,000 bail. The 17-year-old is being held as a juvenile.
Giresi's mother said the boy's father died just a week ago.
"It's wrong what he did. I can't believe my son would do something like that," Joanne Jost said.
Slattery spoke to another homeless man who knows the victim.
"All he's got is a bike, the clothes on his back and a book bag with a little radio on it. And that's all he has," Jack Uhden said.
As if the victim didn't have enough to worry about, being homeless and destitute, he's suddenly become a punching bag.
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