Pastorius Park muggings have one parent on edge

Police are looking for the two assailants

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

When Mike and Alexis moved from Germantown to Chestnut Hill 10 years ago, they were looking for greater "peace of mind."

But trouble, they learned, can follow you anywhere. On July 1, their 15-year-old son was assaulted and robbed at knifepoint in Pastorius Park. Twenty minutes later, the victim's friend, walking alone in the park, was attacked with a baseball bat.

Last week, it happened again. Both teenage boys were assaulted in the park, sustaining injuries that sent them to Chestnut Hill Hospital for treatment. According to the 15-year-old boy's father, the same man is responsible for all three cases.

No arrests have been made, but police are actively pursuing the assailants, said Sgt. Paraschak, of the 14th District.

The recent violence is atypical, Paraschak said. "This happened twice. It involved the same people. And we're looking for these guys," he said.

Fearing retaliation, the boy's father asked the Local to identify him by only his first name.

"We're in Chestnut Hill and we're being terrorized," Mike said.

As reported in the Local's July 8 Crime Report, three males approached one of the victims —Mike's son — while he was sitting with friends in Pastorius Park on July 1 at about 8:15 p.m. One of the men pulled a knife from his pocket and punched the victim in the face, knocking him to the ground. The attackers stole the boy's cash and fled.

About twenty minutes later, the same attackers assaulted the victim's friend with a baseball bat. He suffered a concussion.

On July 13, Mike's son was in the park with a group of friends, and his sister, when the attacker approached him around 7 p.m.

Though Pastorius Park was populated with pedestrians and dog-walkers, Mike said the offender threatened his son with a knife, and told the group, "If you yell, we'll stab you." Then, a second man emerged from the brush and choked Mike's son.

According to police reports, one of the attackers punched the victim in the left eye, knocking him down, and continued to kick his head.

When his son's friend, the victim from the baseball bat incident, attempted to intervene, the attackers beat him and forced him into the pond, Mike said.

The offenders took about $13 cash from the victims, and threw the boys' cell phones into the water, he said.

Police reports identify the assailants as Casey James and P.J. Miller. James is described as an 18 to 20-year-old male, 6'2" tall, 230 lbs., and was seen wearing a black jacket and white shorts. Miller is described as 18 to 20-years-old, and was seen wearing a white "wife beater" t-shirt and black hat.

According to Mike, one of the men told the victims, "If you're going to come to this park, it's going to cost you $50. This is our park."

The men were seen fleeing in a blue Chevrolet Cavalier.

The boys were treated at Chestnut Hill Hospital and released.

According to information from his children, Mike said similar situations have been playing out in the park area for more than a year, many times involving the same attacker. Kids are reluctant to report the incidents because they often occur in compromising situations like beer parties, he said.

Family on edge

The escalating violence has him and his family on edge.

"These are horrific things to experience," Mike said.

Others may be at risk, he said, because teenagers view the park as a refuge.

Because only a small amount of cash was netted from the three incidents, Mike believes the attacker's motive extends beyond robbery.

"Money doesn't seem to be the sole purpose of it," he said. "It's almost like these guys are getting high off the whole power trip. They are getting a thrill out of it. Obviously, these kids don't have a full deck," he said of the attackers.

"Do they want to see somebody bleed next time? It's getting to the point where we're going to pick up the paper and find out somebody was killed."

He called for more parental involvement.

"If people aren't motivated to solve these problems, the legal system won't volunteer," Mike said. "I'm staying in this to the end," he added. "These guys have to be caught. People are living [in Chestnut Hill] for a calm life, and we're not going to give anything up."

The scene at Pastorius Park was calm on Friday as half a dozen pedestrians walked their dogs in the afternoon sun. None had seen or heard of the attacks, but each was surprised and saddened by the news.

Bobbie Horowitz, accompanied by her Great Dane, said she visits the park at least three times a week. She said the news of the attacks disturbs her sense of comfort. "It's important for people to feel safe," Horowitz said. "This park represents so much." After moving into her Mt. Airy home last year, she found Pastorius Park, calling it a place where "dog talk" quickly turns to a "great breaking down of barriers," encountering "sheer goodness" in each visit.

Pushing a baby stroller, Scott Robinson echoed Horowitz's bafflement when told the attacks occurred in daylight during times that the park is heavily populated.

Both said they occasionally see teenagers gather on the far side of the park, beyond a line of trees and on the other side of the pond. The area is host to each summer's concert series.

Teens losing patience

Riding his bike among some graffiti-peppered benches, a young man, who identified himself as a friend of the victims, spoke about the attacks on condition of anonymity.

He said similar attacks have occurred in the park at least three times prior to the July 1 incident. All attacks have involved at least one of the alleged assailants, Casey James, who is originally from Oreland, he said. P.J. Miller, also an Oreland native, was also allegedly involved in the incidents this month.

"Nobody in this town likes these kids," he said. "But we all know who they are. The only reason they continue to use this park is because it's a rich town."

Besides the two attackers, described as "aggravated, violent types," local teenagers have had few problems in the park, he said.

The young man said he and his friends would continue to frequent the park, but will "always be looking over our shoulders now."

"He is just one of those bullies that graduated high school and never stopped being a bully," the young man said of Casey James.

The violence has some teenagers unnerved.

"I don't feel safe in Chestnut Hill," said a young woman, who also requested the Local withhold her name. The young woman, who lives in South Philadelphia, said she was hanging with friends in the park during the first attack. "They were not in their right minds," she said of the attackers. Both the young man and woman said the attackers sold and used hard drugs like crack cocaine.

The pattern of attacks is similar, the young man said, and usually involves at least two men. James will "pretend to be nice," while Miller surprises the victim, he said.

Both were also not only surprised, but angered that police had not made an arrest, especially with the information they provided.

"They sent two people to the emergency room already," the young woman said. "That should be enough."

In addition to their discontent with police, the two said park-goers could be more vigilant. The young woman said a group of picnickers was within sight during the first incident. Also, in last week's incident, the attackers led one of the victims into the park's pond at knifepoint, in view of potential park-goers, the young man said.

"Hill people don't help you," he said. "They hate kids."

As the two friends spoke last Friday, one dog-walker confronted a teenager who had set off a large firecracker.

The young man and woman said they were still shocked such violence had touched the Chestnut Hill community.

"We didn't think it would happen again," the young woman said of last week's attack.

With the assailants still at large, local teenagers are weary, but growing angrier by the day, the young man said.

"It's getting to a point where [the police] have got do something or somebody's going to do something," he said.

In the July 1 baseball bat incident, he said, a group of teenagers entered the park to retaliate for the incident earlier that day, but the attackers wrestled the bat from the group and used it against them.

Sgt. Paraschak said the district has occasionally responded to calls about teenagers hanging out in the park at night, but could not recall any instance of violence.

"That park is not a bad place," he said