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Updated 01/24/2009 10:59 AM

Four Teens Arrested In Connection With Queens Attacks

By: NY1 News

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Police have arrested four teens in connection with a string of violent assaults in Queens.

According to police, two of those men were caught on surveillance tape robbing a man before beating and kicking him.

Luis Navarro, Jemal Mays and Corey King, all 19 years old, along with Edward Edwards, 18, were all charged Friday with robbery in the second degree.

Police say the teens are responsible for robbing and assaulting six men in different incidents over the last two weeks.

Two of the victims are deliverymen for the Bel Aire Diner in Long Island City. One was making a delivery to the Ravenswood housing projects a few blocks away were he was attacked.

"I wasn't expecting anything, so it was a surprise to me when it happened," said the victim through a translator. "I thought they had a weapon, that's why I didn't defend myself; I didn't do anything. I let them take my money. I let them take everything because I thought they had the weapon or something."

Just four days later, police say another delivery man from the same diner was beaten and robbed -- also at the Ravenswood Housing Project.

Four Teens Arrested In Connection With Queens Attacks
However, investigators say the suspects did not just target delivery men. Three other men were also attacked, among them William Weisman.

Weisman, seen on the right, still wears the battle scars, a black eye, welts on his chin, and lacerations on his face, from his run-in with the robbers.

"I felt like I was going to die," he said. "You panic. You think, how could this be happening to me? You see it in the movies and you really don't think it's going to happen to you."

Weisman says he was walking home to the Queensview Terrace Co-ops at 5:30 p.m. when his attackers charged at him from behind.

"They choked me so bad that I couldn't breathe," said Weisman. "I was panicking because I couldn't breathe and I saw fists coming at me, which was an unbelievable experience."

Local residents said they could not believe the attacks were happening.

"That's pretty barbaric," said local resident Jens Weil. "This area is pretty safe. I couldn't imagine anyone trying to do that to anybody."

"Not knowing for sure yet if it's the same four guys, yeah I'm nervous walking around," said Weisman. "I have a wife and daughter."

The two Bel Aire deliverymen have returned to work, saying there is not much more they can do but be more careful, a sentiment shared by many, who say they will now pay closer attention to anyone they do not know.