A 22-year-old Manhattan man has been arrested in a brutal unprovoked cobblestone attack last month that put a 27-year-old Bronx man who only leaves his home for sickle-cell blood transfusions in a coma, police said.
Reginald Starks face charges of attempted murder, robbery, assault, grand larceny and criminal possession of a weapon in the June 9 attack on Franklyn Marte. Information on a possible attorney for Starks wasn't immediately available.
Franklyn Marte underwent brain surgery and needed 56 stitches to close the wounds he suffered in the random attack near Brook Avenue in Mott Haven as he headed home that day. He was in a coma but came out of it -- and he said, "Mama," his mother said last month as she pleaded for justice with the attacker on the loose.
According to the NYPD, Starks allegedly followed Marte for two blocks before putting on a mask and striking him in the back of the head with a cobblestone. He then stomped on Marte's head and back before hitting him again with another rock.
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A woman who later walked by the area saw Marte lying there and called 911. He was taken to Lincoln Hospital where he underwent surgery to repair the trauma.
Marte's parents and sister spoke to News 4 in the weeks after the attack.
"it was cruel the way he did it, didn't even let him defend himself," sister Yaniris Marte said at the time. "My brother cannot eat, my brother cannot talk ... My brother's really a good boy, good man. He don't bother nobody. I'm scared for his life, I can't see my mom like this."
