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Thursday, August 20, 2009

'Damn stupid' thug robbed 100-year-old man

So, who’s the tough guy who beat up and robbed a defenseless 100-year-old man?
That’s the question on the lips of outraged cops and Southwest Philadelphia residents who are still simmering over the savage beat-down that was leveled on unsuspecting Joseph Dimarco in Elmwood last Friday.
Dimarco, fresh after a stroll to pick up some groceries, was walking towards the door of his rowhouse, on Grovers Avenue near 68th Street, at about 4 p.m., when a cold-blooded creep attacked him from behind.
The fiend “puts the victim in a choke hold from behind, throws him to the ground, and takes his groceries and about $30,” said Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives.
“Even though he had clearly gotten the better of a much older man, [the suspect]continued to beat his head for no reason,” Walker said.
The crook, whom Dimarco described as a black man in his 30s, fled on foot through nearby Paschall Park, Walker added.
Investigators have not found any eyewitnesses to the attack.
Dimarco spent five days at Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital, where doctors treated him for bleeding on the brain, Walker said.
Remarkably, the centenarian’s condition improved enough for him to be released from the hospital.
“We were a little concerned about the blood on the brain, but it appears he’s going to be able to overcome it,” Walker said.
Many of Dimarco’s neighbors on Grovers Avenue said earlier tonight that they had just learned of the brutal attack.
“It’s a shame. I mean, that’s a terrible thing to happen to anybody, let alone a 100-year-old man,” said resident Darris Ramsey.
Ramsey said most of the people on Grovers, a long, quiet block lined with green lawns, stay indoors and keep to themselves.
Moustapha Doucoure, Dimarco’s next-door neighbor, described Dimarco as a pleasant man who regularly walks through the neighborhood and chats up others.
Doucoure said he was saddened when he learned how brutally Dimarco had been attacked. He had two words to describe the gutless thief: “Damn stupid.”
Another neighbor, meanwhile, suggested the robber “should be shot, and thrown in jail.”
Despite the emotional reactions, Walker said investigators have not found any witnesses to the attack.
Tipsters can contact detectives at 215-686-3083 or -3084.
Posted by David Gambacorta @ 10:25 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About The PhillyConfidential team

Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.

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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.

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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.

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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.

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