A Mexican day laborer suffered brain damage after being attacked on Broadway by three men shouting “wetback,” as they punched him off his bike in broad daylight. The incident occurred on Sept. 23, but was not reported to the police until Oct. 9 because Mario Vera, the victim, was worried about revealing his status as an illegal immigration.
Yesterday, his wife, Anna Gallardo, made a tearful public appearance asking witnesses to come forward and help detectives find the attackers. Police are offering a $12,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the crime.
Vera was biking with groceries he had picked up at a food pantry in Manhattan when three young black males assaulted him near Broadway and Lafayette, police said. After struggling to get home, he began vomiting and losing consciousness. Eventually, his wife brought him to Woodhull Hospital where doctors couldn’t find anything wrong and sent him home with a couple of Tylenols.
It wasn’t until Vera went to get flu shots at Beth Israel Hospital that a social worker noticed his worsening condition and he has since been in intensive care. Head scans found three blood clots and traumatic brain injuries which have caused Vera memory loss to the extent where he can no longer recognize his own family.
The attack occurred barely a block away from the site of the Jose Sucuzhañay incident last winter. Because the attackers were shouting anti-Mexican slurs, police are handling this case as a hate crime. Anyone with information about the incident can call 1-800-577-TIPS.
Lastly, Telemundo’s report on the incident makes it a point to remind the public that police officers cannot ask crime victims about their immigration status under NYPD policy.
Fed Up October 15th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
This shows the typical illegal immigrant. Relying on the government and charity. I hope they deport this guy and his family.
Dresden October 15th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
How do we know it wasn’t over drugs or a woman? People yelling “wetback”? Jeez – sounds a little made up to me.
ricmac01 October 15th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Yeah – it’s cool to gang beat-up someone as long as it’s over drugs or women. Double jeez!
ObamaRican October 15th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Fed Up & Dresden:
The browning of America is inevitable. Maybe one day you will get a smack down cause of your race. Then you will understand what we Latinos in America are going through. I wish I could be as selective when I was in the service. Then I would have excluded morons like you from the safety of our mantra: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In your cases, it’s more the pursuit of persecution. You are truly worthy of evrything bad that comes your way.
Dresden October 15th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Hey ObamaRican – I’ve gotten smacked down because of my race a few times, by Latinos if I recall before the lightening bolt of boxer-trained fists abolished my senses… And I’m still not rascist. Are you?
Jeremy Sapienza October 15th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Relying on the government… to what, bring his attackers to justice? Attackers whom — since we’re on the subject — I will bet you $100, right here, are all on welfare, while this man moved thousands of miles just to work. I’d like to send the scumbags who did this to Mexico and take the rest of the victim’s family in exchange. Sick.
Jeremy Sapienza October 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I don’t see where anyone said anything about skin color — especially because “FedUp” is probably one of these Archie Bunker Ricans that troll these comment threads, and besides the attackers were far browner than Mr. Vera. Not everything boils down to race — in fact, most things don’t.
shirley October 15th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
america was brown first, buddy…read a history book
sarah October 15th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
For the ignorant commenters who are incredulous at this story, I urge you to wake up and accept the sick racist world we live in–even NEW YORK. Maybe do some reading:
http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=395
Dresden October 15th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Sarah, you don’t understand me. The fact that the man is Latino has no impact on my perceptions. He is not a citizen. That dispels his civil rights. There are no civil rights – those are for, duh, citizens! And there is no corroboration with withnesses or surveillance videos to my knowledge, so this is easily an immigrant using our nation’s resources to mend his broken body – how it broke is neither here nor there – and I could give a shit if he’s from central Germany! If he’s not a citizen, what rights does he have to use our resources? Ignorant? Sick? Racist? I’m not sure you understand the world we live in.
johnny October 15th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Dresden, to say that the man does not deserve care after being brutally beaten is completely heartless and insensitive on so many levels. And thankfully illegal as well. It does not matter what brought on his wounds and pain, he needs to be tended to.
The fact that you think someone using the word “wetback” is unbelievable and out of the ordinary along with the fact that you make it seem that the beating would be justifiable if it were over drugs or a woman, really shows how out of touch you are. Especially in this current city environment, with so many Mexicans in New York, legal as well as illegal, it seems to be obvious that there would be an anti-mexican sentiment that sadly many share. But you act as if no one would say such a word,, that’s pretty comical on your part.
You choose to bring up that no witness nor video has been made available to give the beating credence but you ignore the trauma head injuries and blood clots that have been proven by head scans at beth israel hospital according to the article.
Osito October 15th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Dresden, you should be ashamed of yourself, and should be immediately be deported to wherever knuckle-draggers like yourself come from!
An innocent man has suffered brain damage and memory loss, and a family is destroyed, and all you care about is his immigration status?? WTF?? What does one have to do with the other?
This family was destroyed because three teenage scumbags targeted him based on his appearance! They should be thrown off the Williamsburg Bridge, and their parents should be next in line!
If you want to make a fool of yourself and expose your ignorance, be my guest. I am Mexican-American and there is NO POSSIBLE WAY a poor Mexican can come to the U.S. legally without immediate family! So the issue of immigration status is irrelevent. If you want no undocumented immigrants, than you have two choices:
1. Change the laws to make it much easier for poor folks from developing nations to receive work permits; or
2. Agree to pay twice as much for all consumer goods, and agree to receive horrible service in almost every commercial establishment in the U.S.
I come from a prosperous Mexican family, and have advantages and resources that 95% of Mexicans cannot access. Otherwise, there is no way I could be working in NYC legally.
Your absurd insults against this victim are particularly telling in that the assailants are almost 100% guaranteed to be on welfare themselves, and this poor man didn’t even use the public services available to him following BRAIN DAMAGE!!
The only heavily black census tracts in Bushwick are public housing tracts, so, if they are from Bushwick, the youth are 100% guaranteed to be welfare youth.
Also, is it just me, or is there a particular problem in the African American community against everyone else? I realize that blacks can be victims of racism, but honestly, the majority of overt racism I have seen in the U.S. is by Blacks, and against Whites, Latinos and Asians.
I think this phenomenon is a little less pronounced in NYC because we are so mixed-up here, and Black New Yorkers are often West Indians and Africans, who tend to be culturally different from African Americans.
But yeah, I think there is a problem in the Black community. If you look at who targets others in Hate Crimes it usually appears to be Blacks as the aggressors, which is ironic given the impetus behind Hate Crime legislation.
Osito October 15th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Also, Dresden, you seem to lack understanding of very basic concepts, like civil rights, and citizenship.
Civil rights are defined as unalienable, natural rights! They are NOT exclusive to citizenship! Jefferson was talking about Man’s rights, not American citizens’ rights!
Example: You travel to Canada on vacation. Are you saying you have no civil rights in Canada because you have no citizenship? That’s absurd!
You also don’t seem to have any ethical compass or moral code. I doubt there is a jurisdiction on earth that would endorse your worldview that visitors and noncitizens are not entitled to emergency, life-and-death medical attention!
Jeremy Sapienza October 15th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Osito is correct, constitutional protections and rights are not connected to citizenship. And even if they were, someone’s immigration status is not moral grounds to treat someone differently than anyone else. Considering people criminals because they break stupid laws like those that govern people’s travel plans or residence — or apropos of recent threads, the substances they put in their bodies — is the behavior of someone with a totalitarian mindset, one that redefines morality as whatever it is the state says is moral. This mindset is incompatible with civilization.
BajaRat October 15th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I just looked at the Constitution and saw nothing about “human rights” or “civil rights.” Punish the perps, but deport this squatter and the rest of his parasitic ilk. Period.
johnny October 15th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
it’s sad when one person’s passive aggresive racism leads to another’s.
Sunny October 15th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
LOL!!! Are you serious nimrod!! I have news for you and your Mexican ass, Mexicans are deserting their own country to live in the US. They may send money, they may hold allegience to MExico but they do not have the courage or the strength to stay in their country to FGIGHT the corruption and demand their rights! But your sorry ass people love to hike over the border to start a “revelution” with the US! As for Blacks, if it was not for us..your sorry ass wouldn’t be here! Didn’t see any Mexicans on the freedom riders busses, didn’t see any Mexicans march in Selma, we got the ball rolling…so the next time maybe you should look around before you shoot off your taco filled mouth!! ps: checked the news lately? ICE arrested approx. 2000 gang memebers and you think the Black community has problems?!!! Go to hell idiot! Real tired of people like you boy!
marina October 15th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
It is sad when a person can be held of discrimination, hate and pysycal attacks based on race or immigration status, and someone (like dresden) thinks that is OK.
geez, I am not even american, but you could read some history, as someone suggested, remember, ignorance leads to repeat the same mistakes over and over. Some WWII history regarding racial attacks could be of use. You can read also some about the civil rights fight in your country, America. Somehow, I believe that the civil rights movement (not only in Amerivca, but also that regarding the apartheid in South africa could be representative of the BASIC rights of people everywhere.
Jeremy Sapienza October 16th, 2009 at 12:08 am
You seem to think the United States is some sort of citizen-owned corporate property where non-citizens are squatters. This is untrue. You also seem to think that people who are here to work and then get less than the average share according to the taxes they have paid are “parasites.” Their actions are the opposite of the definition of that word. So it’s unlikely you have even a cursory understanding of constitutional law or the concept of rights.
Osito October 16th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Sunny, I assume your nonsensical ranting is directed to me (apparently I am the only “Mexican Nimrod” posting?)
Assuming you are really African American, you pretty much are Exhibit A for my point; which is that there is something seriously sick in your house.
Outside of the fact that you can’t put together an intelligable and gramatically correct sentence, and putting aside your 3rd grade Speedy Gonzales understanding of Mexico, there is nothing really to respond to.
Education is the key, I think, to preventing a next generation of Sunny-type ignoramuses. Children need to be taught in schools. Can you imagine what they are taught at home when there are adults who preach this hate and spit in the face of their descendants?
jefferson st. October 16th, 2009 at 12:49 am
This is sad. Is there any investigation or lawsuit opening up on Woodhull Hospital. Can there be for something like this? Has anyone been to Woodhull Hospital? How was your experience?
chloe October 16th, 2009 at 6:21 am
You know it seems who is most at fault (aside from the attackers, obviously) is Woodhull. When I moved to this neighborhood my parents told me to NEVER go there, and I can see why. Blacking out? Heres a Tylenol. That is ridiculous and its sad that if he had health insurance (nearly impossible for an illegal immigrant to obtain) he probably would have gotten a little bit more than a Tylenol, aka real medical attention.
ricmac01 October 16th, 2009 at 7:01 am
No human rights?
Dresden October 16th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Osito, Jefferson was talking about white men’s rights – not women, not blacks, not natives – white men. Would you like to really open that can of worms?
As far as the constitutional definition of citizenship, perhaps you can all read the 14th Ammendment.
Illegal immigration is a problem in that it is illegal. We shouldn’t split hairs here. People who get here and make a life for themselves illegally have used enough ingenuity and dedicated hard work that if they all were to stay in their own nation and work to better that place, then we’d ALL be better off.
Over and out.
Matt October 16th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Wrong, Dresden. Civil rights are not for citizens only. The 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause applies to ALL person’s within the jurisdiction of the United States. (This is why Gitmo detainees are held in Cuba and not on U.S. soil… that way they are not entitled to Due Process). This issue was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1886 in a case called Yick Wo v. Hopkins. Educate yourself.
mopar October 16th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
What a horrible attack.
mopar October 16th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Also, the vast majority of Mexican immigrants in Bushwick are working multiple jobs and paying more than 50 percent of their miniscule income in rent. Biking with groceries from a food pantry in Manhattan? He’s too poor to afford a Metro card. Would you bike from Manhattan with groceries? Maybe he got laid off, maybe this is the way he covers expenses, who knows. A lot of people are going to food pantries because everyone is losing their job. Most food pantries are non-governmental organizations run by churches.
mopar October 16th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Sure enough, the food pantry is run by a church, according to the article.
mopar October 16th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
How can we make these kinds of attacks where people are randomly beaten unconscious or killed stop? They seem to be really big in Bushwick.
Max October 17th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Sunny if you really are an African American woman, you should be ashamed of the racist crap you posted, taco eating mouth? I know 5 year olds who would not stoop that low, Didn’t see Mexicans on the Freedom ride buses? because you were there? somehow I doubt that very much. Europeans slaughtered indigenous people all over the Americans and the Caribbean and sold them into slavery at the same time as importing African Slaves, yet your head is too far up your ass to see how that’s related. Turn off the Lou Dobbs once in a while and read a book.
jorge October 19th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Im mexican yes,and even though I feel bad for this poor man,I also understand the hatred against mexicans.The mexican immigration problem has become huge!!! and now this country is full of mexicans ,and sadly,not the most educated,well mannered,sophisticated ones either.
I think americans in general are tired of it.Why should they love us anyways? Because we learn english so fast?,because we hardly ever ask for help for our 5-6 kids?because we drive amazingly without insurance?It is sad and embarrasing to say these thing,and of course i wil get the typical sellout,racist comment,but I work in a court of law,and see these things every single day….most of the people there are either Hispanic or…..you know…( Im sure ill get a racist comment for that too)…..at any rate….people react in a certain way against a certain race because of REASONS….the problem is in our case,we dont like to admit them,because we of course are so perfect,hard working and god fearing….thats why Mexico is such a paradise to live in,with no violence,corruption and lazy union people asking for privileges and handouts…If I werent mexican I’m afraid I’d hate my country men too….
Karen October 19th, 2009 at 11:48 am
wow, people are way too angry on this site. It’s turning me away from it more and more each day…
All I know is that a man got beaten really badly and it is unfortunate, whatever his status or race is. The rest of you go ahead and verbally battle it out…while I wish him and his family well, hopes he gets better soon.
mopar October 19th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Anyone know if Make the Road or St. Bridget’s is having a protest, or setting up a fund for donation? NYT article today says his wife and daughter have no income.
Hombre del sur October 20th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Third World immigration into the US imports poverty, boosts social delinquency and crime, and costs US taxpayers a fortune – precisely the opposite of what liberals allege are the benefits of such open-door immigration policies.
For some reason most Americans seem to sympathize with these illegal, which stories like this are just used to sensationalize the opinion that they should be granted some sort of Amnesty. If that is the case, I want to move to France as an Illegal (we know the French love paperwork so I don’t want to wait) and go to college for free and use their healthcare. THAT WON’T HAPPEN THOUGH because the French are not stupid like we are and have and enforce rules.
And please, stop calling them “latin”or latinos, THEY ARE MEJJJICANS , As an American that happens to be born in Argentina, I find it offensive ,French,Romanians, Italians like Spaniards and Portuguese are the Latin “Roman descendants of the Latin language” but they have no affiliation with the Indians ,black or mulatos from L.A.
Jeremy Sapienza October 20th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Awkwardly maybe for them, so often it’s two factions of MTR’s own constituency that seem to be at odds all the time.
Jeremy Sapienza October 20th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Again — this always seems to have to be repeated — ILLEGAL immigrants do not get welfare, and pay more than their share of taxes with few services. However, LEGAL immigrants are eligible for all kinds of taxpayer-financed (including taxes paid by illegals!) programs and routinely take advantage of them. The solution is to end the welfare state, but that’s a political hot-button because again, it’s mostly American citizens like the ones who committed this crime who “cost taxpayers a fortune.” Easier to just demonize people who travel thousands of miles into an alien land to work their asses off to be able to send a few meager dollars home to their relatives.
Your final point seems only to be made in an attempt to show your racial superiority. What’s the point of that? We get it, Argies are white. This is a non sequitur.
Jeremy Sapienza October 20th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Furthermore, the undeniable proof of my claims is that captures of illegals crossing the border has declined in tandem with the economy. This means, unequivocally, that a few hundred bucks in food stamps after a possible amnesty many years after immigration is not the impetus for Mexicans to move here. They’re not gaming our system, they are participating in our economy. They could not move here if the market didn’t demand their services, which means they are a net gain, economically.
sophia October 21st, 2009 at 7:38 pm
i live a few blocks away and i have to say that even though this particular crime was racially/anti-immigrant motivated, it is just a drop in the bucket of a vast increase of violence in our neighborhood. there have been so many random beatings, push-ins, break-ins and roberries that i personally know about…and so many that go unreported as well. for example a young guy on my block went to go get cigarrettes at the bodega at five pm, broad daylight, and got hit in the back of the head and legs, beaten for his twelve bucks just the other day. i know about it but he didn’t report. i was standing outside (with baby monitor) talking to a neighbor at eight pm when we heard a blood curdling scream from a woman who had her head pushed in a wall outside her building…so my husband goes running after some crazy crackhead who jumps on a bus and gets away so that was another silent drop in the bucket.
i know that this is so kumbaya of me and so many people are either very libertarian or conservative when it comes to actually organizing, but that is the only solution. a neighborhood where people actually present a united front, whether by protest, heighborhood watch, demanding more from police and government is a neighborhood where things get done. people can hold their head up and be productive and proactive instead of reactionary and bitter. it is fine to have this online rant together but it is so lame and useless in the end.
bshwk_dominicano October 21st, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Wow, do people like dresden, sunny, jeremy sapienza, hombre del sur and the other windbags really live in bushwick? You guys are the lowest of the low. You’re saying it doesn’t matter he was beaten to a pulp and suffered severe head trauma because he’s illegal…you people sound like you’d be more at home with the minute men out in arizona or something, go out there…and while you’re at it, get bitten by a rattle snake.
bshwk_dominicano October 21st, 2009 at 9:03 pm
i think i actually owe one of you, sapienza an apology…i misread your comments
bshwk_dominicano October 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 am
to jorge,
if you’re truly mexican, you’ll understand that these “americans” you understand so well will not ask you if you work for a court or if you’re well mannered or if you’re even legal before they beat you to a pulp, they’ll just see a dirty wetback. remember that next time you defend them and their hatred.
savage severe October 24th, 2009 at 9:42 am
There should be a new blogue called AngryConfusedBushwick.com then we can report all the shitty things that happen on the street and all the shitty things in the minds of the people who walk down the street.
bshwk_dominicano October 24th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
agreed
michael January 16th, 2010 at 12:25 am
i am a white american, live in america, i am a minority, what does that say? i dont have to say anything, what u see out here speaks for its self
michael January 16th, 2010 at 12:27 am
you all send all your money back to you origin. go live onit there
bshwk_dominicano January 16th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
want some cheese with that whine? seriously, look at the census data…maybe in 50 yrs you’ll be a minority, not right now…now if it bothers you living in a predominantly Hispanic area like Bushwick, then just move the fuck out and stop bitching.
Jamie January 20th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Actually it was red.