Assaulted Rangers Fan a Cop, Veteran; Coward Flyers Fan ID'd (Updated)
Awesome job by the Rangers stepping up to the plate to help assaulted fan:
@thenyrangers
New York Rangers Well aware of what happened & we r are on it RT @TheNYRBlog: Asking TheNYRBlog readers 2call on NYR 2do right thing 4assaulted fan in Philly
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Looks like Facebook idiot didn't do it:
Philly police requesting public assistance to catch the real cowards.
Original Post:
Yesterday I posted video of a bunch of Flyers fans jumping two Rangers fans outside Gino's Steaks in Philly after the Winter Classic on Monday.
Here's a little follow-up:
According to NBC New York (H/T to reader Rich C.), the Blueshirts fan who was the most severely assaulted is 30-year-old Neal Auricchio a Woodbridge, NJ police officer and former Marine who earned a Purple Heart in Iraq.
NBC also reports that the brawl started when the Flyers fans paid a man who was cleaning car windows to spray a Ranger fan with some sort of liquid.
Here's Auricchio's father on his son's condition...
"He got banged up pretty badly. Stitches in the one eye, and the other eye is pretty puffed up. He went for a CAT scan today, and we're waiting for the results on that."
Here's the full video from NBC last night...
View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.
...wow, I thought I was pissed off when I first heard about this, now I'm steamed. So now along with Santa Claus, apparently Philadelphia sports fans hate the U.S. Military as well....i sent the Rangers a tweet asking that they do something nice for Auricchio (tickets?, signed jersey?), I urge you to do the same either on Facebook or Twitter.
For information on the Flyers fan who threw the blatant sucker punch in the video, click the "Read More" tab below.
Then last night, through the great work of the guys over at Broad Street Hockey and utter stupidity, the guy who threw the sucker punch has been identified and all his information forwarded to the Philadelphia Police South Detective Division.
Apparently after Travis at BSH posted the assault video on the blog's Facebook page it garnered a lot of unflattering comments about the dastardly act, however, one of the comments was different...
Followed by this one...
After being confronted by a number of other Facebook commenters Neary backtracked and blamed some friends.
Travis then went to Neary's Facebook page and was able to gather all of coward's personal information and forwarded them to the proper authorities.
Now obviously, just because some idiot confessed on Facebook doesn't mean he actually did it (lots of crazies on Facebook), but you have wonder why he later decided to delete all the above comments, delete all his information on his Facebook page (which he since put back up) and then add this comment to the thread...
Sounds like a fake alibi to me.
Looks like this guy Neary is going to have a lot of splainin' to do when the cops knock on his front door today.
Not sure what's more stupid, sucker punching someone because their wearing your team's rival's jersey or bragging about it on Facebook.
Amazing work by the guys over at Broad Street Hockey. I know it's a Flyers blog, but if you get a second, stop by the blog and drop them a quick thanks.
H/T to readers Joshua J., David B. and Chris H.
Remember to follow me on Twitter & Facebook or e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
I read that torts got a 30 g fine for saying what we were all thinking during the 3rd period.Maybe some of the fine money should be used on something good such as
helping the fan with his medical and hiring a prosecutor to convict this scumbag,as oppose to giving it to NBC for lost revenue over the fact that they couldn't get it to overtime.To NBC you should no better by now that with all your bad calls you can not defeat the king.
Guys - if anyone receives his contact information, please forward along to me. I would be honored to treat Neal and his son to a game at the Garden against the Sabres on Feb. 25th. My father was a proud Marine, having served in the Pacific during WWII, and I want this young veteran and his son to know that we Ranger and hockey fans care about him,
Contact Info:
Anthony Vertucci
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
718.302.8292
Awful situation. At the end of the day, it's just a game. I'm not intending to be a jerk - but as a marine and cop, how did this guy not know how to better defend himself? I get that he wasn't going on the offensive, he was outnumbered and was smaller than the culprits. But his initial grab at the flyer guy didn't work well at all.
@thenyrblog my mom showed me that on the news last night I'm glad he will be ok just hope they get those flyers fans charge them
@thenyrblog That FB Flyer fan might not have done it, but make no mistake, he's still an IDIOT!
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the only good thing about this situation is the victim was a cop, sad for him but pretty much guarantees these guys are getting butt fucked with a can of mace like they deserve.
The cop is a cop in my home town and when to my highschool he graduated in 1999. This really hits home. I hate these ass clown scum bags.
I was at the game (huge New York Rangers fan), and I have to say that I was really impressed by how cool the Flyers fans were to us. I was walking around the stadium before the game, and got chriped a few times because I was wearing my Rangers Jagr jersey, but whenever I looked back the chirpee had a grin on his face. Some crazy Flyers fan dressed in full goalie gear screamed stuff at me and said "JAGR is ours now!" and kind of bumped me, but it didn't bother me because I could tell it was in jest.
During the game, the Philly fans around us were friendly and one even shook my hand after the game in congratulations. We talked to Flyers fans in the restroom and made conversation. On the subway platform a Flyers fan started chatting with us about hockey, New York etc.
@thenyrblog Most of us Flyers fans agree that these guys are a disgrace. Looks like the cops are working on it. http:\/\/t.co\/5F26jl9J
@thenyrblog @thenyrangers this is a great idea. i hope the NYR pull through and give this guy something. philly fans are absolutely ridic.
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I'm guessing Mr. Neary and his crew of cowards is going to get a taste of what happens when you assult a cop. Unlike sports, the police are a fraternal order and stick up for one another, regardless of location. The video won't go on YouTube, but just knowing that these a-holes will have to come face to face with some pretty pised off cops is enough gratification for me.
I was noit sure if anyone heard of the link I sent below... but if you havnt heard. This years WC was top 5 in most watched games since 1975...
New York is tied for most watched state of any WC with DC from last season
Make sure you also leave a Facebook message on Rangers page or send them a tweet asking them to do something nice for Auricchio.
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just dropped by BSH's FB page to say thanks - just further proof that real hockey fans don't behave like these jackasses, regardless of what team they support.
This pisses me off more and more every minute. If you think people hate Philly fans now. Oh boy!
