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Early Morning Violence Outside of Oval Park

While a handcuffed man sat in the back of a police car, another man was being treated in an ambulance outside of Williamsbridge Oval Park after a severe beating this morning. (Photo by Alex Kratz)

Just before 9 o’clock this morning, traffic built up around Reservoir Oval in Norwood as dozens of local police, aided by helicopters, chased after a group of suspects who, witnesses said, severely beat up a local barber.

Police managed to track down and capture at least one of the suspects. By 9:15 a.m., he was sitting in a police car on Reservoir Oval East at Putnam Place. While he sat in the back of the police car, the victim was laid out on a stretcher in an ambulance just 10 feet away. Both were later taken away.

The barber, who is Dominican, was jogging in Oval Park when a group of black men began yelling ethnic slurs at him, according to witnesses. The group then chased him down out of the park and beat him up using various makeshift weapons.

Some speculated that the beating might have stemmed from an earlier beef between the barber and his friends and the group of men who beat up the barber.

Police at the scene wouldn’t comment.

Stay tuned.

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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