Philadelphia

Victim of Center City Flash Mob Attack: ‘They Could've Killed People'

One of the six victims beaten during a flash mob attack in Center City is speaking out for the first time.

"They could've killed people," Joe Quaid told NBC10 in an exclusive interview. "Like, they were aiming to seriously harm us."

Quaid, 21, and a friend who was visiting from out of town were on the 1600 block of Walnut Street Saturday around 6:10 p.m. Suddenly a large group of teens rushed towards them and began to attack.

"It was a large group of people beating us for like no reason," Quaid said. "It was like so quickly done you couldn't really react. While one person was distracting me in the front, someone else was hitting me in the back."

Quaid told NBC10 the 10 to 15-minute attack was like a slow-moving scene out of a horror movie.

"We were off on the curb when they attacked when random people were jumping out of the crowd and hitting us and no one was doing anything," he said. "Everyone was just walking by quietly."

A 55-year-old Philadelphia police detective, who was off-duty at the time and with his 53-year-old wife, spotted the teens attacking Quaid and his friend. He jumped in and tried to help them.

"I was grateful that he did that because I don't know what would've happened if we were out there longer," Quaid said.

As the detective walked toward them, the teens fled the area. The detective began walking back to where his wife was when he spotted more teens randomly attacking people, according to investigators.

The detective announced he was a police officer and tried to arrest one of the teens who was kicking the two men. As the detective grabbed the teen he was punched from behind by several other attackers, police said. The detective's wife splashed water on the teens in order to stop them. One of the attackers then punched the woman in the face, police said. All of the teen attackers then fled the area.

The detective suffered an orbital fracture to his right eye. The man and his wife, who also suffered minor injuries, were both taken to Jefferson Hospital for treatment. Quaid, his friend and another victim also suffered minor injuries.

Immediately following the attack on 1600 Walnut Street a 28-year-old man was attacked by several teens on 100 S. 16th Street. Responding police officers then arrested two 16-year-old boys.

More arrests could come as investigators pour over surveillance video, said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, who noted that the teens are old enough to know right from wrong.

"Some people want to indict the parents but I talk about personal responsibility, these are kids old enough to know better and not do something like that," said Ross.

"They should be absolutely held accountable for what they did and there's no excuse for it."

Ross said he hopes the incident was an "anomaly" but that police would "respond accordingly" with Center City patrols.

Quaid also had a message for the teens responsible.

"I just want them to know that if they feel that attacking people from a crowd and then dashing away and punching people from behind and kicking them when they're down is okay then they're cowardly," he said. "Those are all cowardly actions."

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