A neighbor in a Long Island community where three boys were arrested in two separate sucker-punch attacks on strangers is still horrified by the violence she witnessed in one of the incidents.
"There was so much blood. I though he was shot or stabbed, it just kept coming from his nose and mouth," said Rose Coppinger.
Coppinger was on her way to lunch on Deer Park Avenue in Deer Park last Wednesday when she said she saw a boy ambush a 60-year-old man from behind and punch him in the head, then jump into a waiting white car and take off.
The victim dropped headfirst onto the road, his body nearly lifeless, inches from traffic.
Coppinger ran to blocks cars from the man's body while another man tried to help him.
"He was bleeding from his nose and his mouth," said Coppinger. "He was unconscious for a little bit and then the man kept talking to him, and he finally opened his eyes a little. Then he kept just rolling over and throwing up blood."
The victim was rushed to the hospital with multiple facial fractures.
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The same teens, suspected of knocking out another victim at a Taco Bell just minutes earlier, were arrested Thursday and Friday, police said. Two of them are 16 years old, and the third -- the alleged puncher -- is now 16, but was 15 at the time of the attacks, and was charged as a juvenile.
"Fifteen years old, that's these kids are doing for kicks, pretty sad," said Coppinger.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said Monday he couldn't comment specifically on the case but warned that police were watching for any similar incidents.
"If you do this, we are going to catch you. There's video surveillance all over the country. You could hurt someone seriously, you could kill them," he said. "We will treat you like a criminal."
Coppinger said she hopes the victim heals both physically and emotionally from the attack.
