A total of six men were arrested in Bayonne yesterday after a retaliatory baseball bat attack over a relatively recent robbery, police said.Â
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Jonathan Belle, 35, Tryone Baskin, 48, of Bayonne, were both charged with robbery, while Gary Elam, 31, Elijah R. Porch, 24, Arthur L. Elam, 31 and Albert C. Smith, 33, all also from Bayonne, were charged with two counts each of aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and endangering an injured victim, according to Police Lt. Eric Amato.
On Sunday around 12:38 p.m., police were dispatched to the Bayonne Medical Center where a 61-year-old man said he was robbed and beaten by two men at Dennis P. Collins Park, officials said.
The two men, later identified as Belle and Baskin, approached the victim at a park bench around 11:30 a.m., threw him to the ground and began assaulting him before taking his wallet and fleeing the scene, authorities said.
The victim told police he was involved in past incidents involving the two men, although he did not go into the particulars, police said.
Later in the day, officers responded to the Gorman Field parking lot near First Street and Humphrey Avenue on reports that four men in a white pickup truck had beaten two men with baseball bats, officials said.
Authorities said that upon arrival just before 3 p.m., officers found that Belle’s silver van had crashed into a wooden guard rail. Baskin was in the front passenger seat, unresponsive and bleeding from the head, while Belle was outside the vehicle.
In a statement, Amato said he believed the assault was in retaliation to the robbery.
Both men were arrested and charged with robbery during the on-scene investigation after police headquarters informed the officers of their involvement in the attack earlier in the day and were transported to Bayonne Medical Center for their injuries.
During this same time, police broadcasted a bulletin to units to be on the lookout for the pickup truck and the U.S. State Park Police responded and radioed in that they had detained the four men at Liberty State Park, authorities said.
