Rollerblader savagely beaten in park

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A late-night skate in Delaware Park took a frightening turn for an in-line skater who was jumped and brutally beaten by a group of teens.

Life has been difficult enough for former construction worker Phil Tomassi, who has undergone five surgeries after being injured on the job. He is able to get up on rollerblades, as a form of therapy, but Wednesday night he was viciously attacked by four teenagers at Delaware Park after the park had closed.

Tomassi described, "There was four trees. There was one behind each tree, and as I passed them, one came out from behind me and then the other three came into the street."

Tomassi told News 4 he was relentlessly beaten.

"I got pushed to the ground. He started pummeling me. He started punching me. I covered up. And he said, "Empty out your pockets." I go, "I don't have any pockets. I'm rollerblading." "Give me everything you got." I said, "I don't have anything. What do you want?" They kept beating me up, kicking me, kicking me," retold Tomassi.

Tomassi said the four black teenagers taunted him with racial slurs and then calmly walked away when he had nothing of value to give them, but he did have a cell phone hidden in his waist band and called 911. Police quickly responded.

Rollerblader David Hadbawnik, who lives near the park, said robberies and car break-ins have become a fact of life in his neighborhood. He usually avoids the park at night after it closes at 10 p.m.

Hadbawnik said, "I've walked here at night before, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. There's lights around the parking lot, but it's pretty desolate at night."

Buffalo Police Spokesman Mike DeGeorge added, "At that time, when the park is closed, there's less people around. There's less security around, and there's just, unfortunately, a better chance that something could happen."

Tomassi says he has suffered a setback, not only physically, but knowing that teenagers would continue to beat him when there was nothing material to be gained.