The victim -- identified only as "Vasquez" -- picked up the unidentified Black male outside of Tequilas in Dover near Madison and Spruce streets around 9:45 p.m. Monday, when he was beaten and robbed in his vehicle, according to a GoFundMe page started by one of his children.
Vasquez was left for dead on the side of the street, according to his daughter Melody.
"The Dover police officers working diligently have identified a potential person of interest and the investigation is ongoing at this time,” police chief Jonathan Delaney told NJ Advance Media.
“The community’s safety and security is paramount and our agency is doing everything we legally can to track down the actor and hold that person accountable for their actions.”
“My father is a disabled man. If you don’t know my father, he is a kind Christian man. No one deserves this. We need justice,” Melody writes in her post.
The GoFundMe page was started to help cover the cost of his medical treatments, and had raised $17,154 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Anyone with information on this incident should contact Dover police at 973-366-2200, or Morris County Crime Stoppers at 973-267-2255.
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