Good Samaritan saves local teen being beaten

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - A local teen is just out of the hospital after a vicious beatdown allegedly carried out by a group of fellow teens.

"It's just messed up," 19-year-old Jonathan Segarra said.

The Tacony teen was walking to work Tuesday afternoon for his second day on his new job. While cutting through the alley behind Tudor Street near St. Hubert High School he says he was approached by a group of four teens.

"One of them approached me and asked me what time it was," Segarra said. Then, one teen asked to borrow his mobile phone. Segarra said no. He was rushing to work.

"About five seconds later, they started to hit me and I tried running," he said.

Segarra says the attackers caught up with him on Ditman Street, which is right behind the high school. He says they clearly wanted his phone and one of the larger teens grabbed him.

"He bear-hugged me from behind and then he picked me up and he slammed me on the street. And then, they all started to kick me and punch me. I was asking them to stop to just please stop. I was crying out."

With no reason to believe the beating would end any time soon, Segarra says he was relieved to see a passing car pull to a stop and a man get out. He says the man confronted the teens and ran them off.

Segarra suggested the beatdown could have been much worse had it not been for the actions of that good Samaritan.

"Most definitely," said Jonathan quietly--haltingly--thanks to a still-sore jaw.

Segarra was rushed by ambulance to Aria-Jefferson Torresdale Hospital where he spent Wednesday recovering from cuts and bruises

Even now, he sports a shiner under each eye There is plenty of swelling, but there are no broken bones and no concussion.

Philadelphia police are looking for security cameras in the neighborhood that might help them identify the four attackers whom Segarra describes as slim, probably 17-19 years old, clean-shaven and wearing black, blue, grey and red hoodies.

On Segarra's wrist, next to the hospital bracelet he just removed is a Medic Alert bracelet. The 19-year-old suffers from periodic epileptic seizures.

"It could have been worse and I'm just very thankful that it wasn't," Segarra said.