New Orleans police seek suspects in brutal French Quarter attack seen on video
NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans police say a tourist is hospitalized in critical condition after being beaten and robbed in an attack caught on video.
NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports that police say a 32-year-old man and another man were beaten by four or five other men during a robbery Saturday night in the French Quarter.
Police released graphic video of the attack hoping to identify the suspects. According to CBS affiliate WWLTV, the video shows the victims walking back to their hotel on Bienville Street about 9 p.m. when two men rush up behind them and launch a quick, aggressive attack that ended with one victim face-down on the sidewalk, motionless and gasping for air.
One of the attackers punches the first victim in the head and then puts him in a chokehold and continues to punch the victim as he struggles to drag him to the ground.
Almost simultaneously, another man punches the second victim in the head, at which point the victim collapses to the ground face first. The attacker rummages through the motionless victim's pockets as two other men run up and appear to help rob both victims before the suspects flee.
Police say the two victims were transported to a local hospital after the incident was reported.
Police Superintendent Michael Harrison said Monday morning that the suspects are now wanted on second-degree robbery charges because of the severity of the injuries.
No additional information, including the second victim's condition, was released about the incident.
"The eyes of the community caught this," Harrison told WWLTV, speaking to the assailants. "Everybody's going to know exactly who you are."
