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The May 29 attack landed the local diner worker in Englewood Medical Center in critical condition, with eight broken bones in his face and an eye so damaged that he might lose sight in it, Detective Capt. Timothy Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time.
“The beating was so severe that we put the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Squad on standby, based on what our officers saw and what the medical staff told us,” Torell said.
“This was an absolutely brutal attack,” the captain said. “The victim clearly did not know his attackers and is extremely lucky to be alive. This is a hard-working guy who did nothing to warrant what happened to him.”
The victim, who had a cellphone and cash taken, still managed to describe his assailants for police.
The attack occurred around 6:30 p.m. on a stretch of railroad tracks that runs between Demarest and Hamilton avenues in the City’s 3rd Ward and is commonly used as a shortcut by pedestrians.
By midnight, police had identified three suspects, Torell said. Within a few hours, two were in custody, he said. The third was arrested at 12:30 p.m. the next day.
Detective Sgt. Chris Kedersha, along with Detectives Chris Quirk and Mike Hargrave, arrested 18-year-old Gonzalo Eduardo Montoya (above, middle) and Tyrell Peterson, 24 (above right), both city residents.
Detectives Barry Miller and Zellvon Lucas later caught up with 20-year-old Terryn Butler (above left), a former Englewood resident, at his East Orange home, Torell said.
A later search of Butler’s home turned up the victim’s stolen cellphone, he said.
The grand jury charged all three with aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, and purposely inflicting serious bodily injury on the victim during a theft.
All three remained held on $300,000 bail each in the Bergen County Jail.
MUGSHOTS: Courtesy ENGLEWOOD PD
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