Victim fights back - cops arrest four

Carl DeGennaro realizes that Wednesday, May 14 could have been a really bad day for him.
The 38-year-old Kew Gardens resident - a husband and father - was robbed as he was leaving work, but a combination of bravery on his part and good work on the part of New York’s Finest ensured he had a “happy ending.”
“I punched out at about five after four,” explained the Director of Social Work at Interfaith Medical Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
He was headed to his car, he said, parked about one block from the hospital, when about six to eight males jumped him from behind and started pummeling him.
DeGennaro told The Courier that one of his alleged assailants took his briefcase with his iPod. On him, he said, he also had his cell phone and hospital pager and his wallet with about $50.
“I confronted one [of the perps] and got a good look at him, but I realized I was outnumbered,” he said. “I was going to lick my wounds and go home. I was not even going to call the police. I was in shock.”
However, an onlooker advised him to call 9-1-1, and that is when DeGennaro decided he did not want to be a victim.
“I followed them in my car and the whole time I was on the phone with
9-1-1,” he said. “It felt like forever, but in reality, in two or three minutes the cops were there.”
By this time, according to DeGennaro, the suspects had gone into Fulton Park, where the responding officers apprehended four suspects.
“One of the cops tells me, ‘Look what I got,’ and pulled out my iPod,” said DeGennaro, who says he has a newfound respect for, and faith in, the New York Police Department.
“I can’t say enough about how helpful and supportive they [the police officers] have been throughout this ordeal,” he said. “They are truly a credit to their profession.”
Later, at the 81st Precinct, DeGennaro, who suffered a few bumps and bruises, but got his property back, said he saw a runaway sitting and waiting, and he helped her by talking and listening.
“Here I am with an ice pack on my head and the highlight of my day is helping this girl,” he said, adding, “[This] could have been a lot worse.”