Beating at Valley Stream train station caught on video

A man asking for change at the Valley Stream train station Monday night approached the wrong group and was beaten and robbed in a brutal attack caught on a cabdriver's video, according to Nassau police and eyewitnesses.

Around 10:30 p.m. Monday, the 30-year-old man was walking from a friend's house through the train station to catch a taxi, said Det. Sgt. Kenneth Catalani. Witnesses at the taxi stand said the man asked for change from bystanders.

Taxi driver Jean Cadet, 50, of Valley Stream, said he was sitting inside his cab and watched the man approach a group of men, who attacked him.

"They grabbed his money, and they knocked him on the ground," Cadet said. He pulled out his digital Kodak camera and began filming.

"It was so brutal, I had to take my camera out and take a picture," he said. "It was very bad."

In the footage at least two men, including a shirtless man, can be seen hitting and kicking a man on the ground. Police said the two men first attacked the victim in the parking lot. He broke away, only to be attacked a second time, closer to the train station.

Police arrested Steven Wilhelmsen, 19, of Garfield Place in East Rockaway late Tuesday and Christian Omar Cruz, 21, of Merrick Road in Lynbrook, was arrested at the scene after a taxi dispatcher called 911.

Both are charged with second-degree robbery. Wilhelmsen was arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Hempstead and was being held on $50,000 cash bail. Cruz was arraigned Monday and was being held on $10,000 cash bail.

The victim, who had $40 on him, was treated for bruises at Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream, police said.

Catalani called the video useful in the arrests. While any visual evidence is helpful to police, they usually rely on stationary cameras like security cameras. Evidence from portable electronics, however, has become more common, said police spokesman Det. Michael Bitsko.

Cadet said he didn't feel comfortable physically intervening because of the group's size. "My intention was just to capture what was taking place," he said, adding the victim "didn't have a chance."