This video of some thugs beating a man outside of the Valley Stream LIRR station Monday night looks pretty brutal, but fortunately the victim sustained only bruises. Police have already arrested two suspects, and Newsday reports (paywall) that the video, taken by a cabdriver, was "instrumental" in the arrests.
Nassau County police have arrested Steven Wilhelmsen, 19, and Christian Omar Cruz, 21, and charged both with second-degree robbery. Detective Sgt. Kenneth Catalani says the two suspects were part of a larger group of men who confronted the unidentified 30-year-old victim in the parking lot, where he was trying to get a cab. The beating and robbery (the perps took $40) happened around 10:30 p.m. by the taxi stand, where one of the drivers documented it with his camera. We salute this hero cab driver for turning the video over to police instead of just throwing it up on YouTube!
