Arrest made in "flash-mob" beating
Police arrested Stephen Lyde, 21, today and charged him with aggravated assault in what Capt. Laurence D. Nodiff, commander of South Detective Division, called the "vicious" and "brutal" beating of a 52-year-old maintenance mechanic who was bicycling home from work during the May 30 near-riots on South Street.
Police arrested Stephen Lyde, 21, today and charged him with aggravated assault in what Capt. Laurence D. Nodiff, commander of South Detective Division, called the "vicious" and "brutal" beating of a 52-year-old maintenance mechanic who was bicycling home from work during the May 30 near-riots on South Street.
Nodiff said that Lyde was one of eight males who knocked the victim off his bike and "brutally beat him to unconsciousness," leaving him with skull, rib and facial fractures, and internal injuries.
The victim was on life support at Hahnemann University Hospital for days, Nodiff said, and remains hospitalized in stable condition.
Nodiff said that police expect to make additional arrests soon.