CBS2 Exclusive: Man Speaks After Being Slashed In Face In Van Cortlandt Park
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A victim spoke out Tuesday, after being brutally slashed as he jogged in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
As CBS2's Scott Rapoport reported exclusively, Joel Rosarío suffered an eight-stitch laceration on the side of his face in the slashing around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 22.
Rosarío, 29, said he was jogging near the Putnam Trail of the park when he was approached by two men, both of them strangers.
He said one of the men looped around him to distract him, and that the second man lashed out at his face with an unknown weapon.
The assailant sliced open part of Rosarío's jaw, though Rosarío didn't immediately know it.
"I thought I was just assaulted -- I got punched," Rosarío said, "a botched robbery or something."
But then, he saw and felt the blood.
"And that's when I found out I was slashed," he said.
Rosarío said EMTs told him he was probably attacked with a box cutter or a switchblade. He said his attackers never said a single word to him, and quickly ran off into the woods after the attack.
Remarkably, Rosarío also told CBS2's Rapoport that this was not the first time something like this had happened to him -- not even close."
"This is my third time" being slashed, he said.
Rosarío said he received a 10-inch scar after being randomly slashed 2005 in the area where he grew up in the University Heights section of the Bronx. He received another scar from a slashing in 2007 in the same neighborhood.
He said something needs to be done.
"Is it crazy? Yes it's crazy. It's been happening. It's been happening in the city for quite some time," Rosarío said.
Police described one suspect, the distractor as 20 to 30 years old, and was last seen wearing a dark colored hooded sweatshirt. The second suspect is described at a black male in his mid-20s, about 6 feet tall, and with an afro. He was last seen wearing a red "Adidas" hooded sweatshirt.
Police have released a sketch of the distractor.
They do not have a detailed description of the second who actually struck Rosarío.
And while both were still out there, Rosarío told Rapoport he feels fortunate.
"I'm still alive," he said. "I've got all my limbs. I still got my eyes."
As it happens, Rosarío said he hopes to land a job with the city's park police. He interviewed for the job that very day.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.