The Alternative Press

PATERSON, NJ - At first, the customer at the US Chicken on Straight Street was fending off one man trying to rob him. Then a second attacker emerged, and finally there was a third assailant, this one wielding a machete.

The brutality escalated as the victim desperately tried to fight off the three-person attack. The man with the machete slashed at him again and again. He took 10 hacks while the victim was still standing and four more after the man was knocked down to the floor and defenseless.

As the victim lay motionless, his attackers ran off, one of them kicking him in the head on the way towards the door.

That barbaric scene, which happened on September 10, was recorded by a security camera in the chicken shack and Paterson Police posted it on their their Cease Fire unit's Facebook page on Friday. It represents the police department’s new strategy of using social media to help solve crimes.

“We’ve done all we can to find him, but that guy is still out there,’’ said Capt. Heriberto, head of the city’s detective bureau. “He’s a violent individual and I want to get him.’’

Detectives have identified the man with the machete as Tyree Seegers, a 22-year-oldcity resident and are hoping that people who see the video on the Facebook page may alert them to his whereabouts. Authorities are not sure whether he is still in Paterson.

Budget constraints have prompted city police to look for clues through the cyber-world after old-fashioned legwork resulted in nothing but dead ends. Last April’s layoffs of 125 city police officers cut the detective bureau almost in half.

“With limited resources, we’re trying to get any help we can from the community,’’ said Rodriguez. “We’re going to be doing more of this. Let’s face it, if I can work smarter it’s a no-brainer.’’

The four-minute video, taken at about 3:55 am at the chicken shack at 194 Straight Street, shows two assaults. In the first one, police say a 22-year-old man named Omar Villota struck a victim in the head with a handgun as he left the restaurant.

Moments later, the second attack occurred. Villota was involved in that one as well, but didn’t fare too well. As Seegers hacked at the victim he hit Villota’s wrist, almost severing it, police said.

Villota and the third suspect, Johel Gomez, 20, have been arrested and charged with aggravated assault. Only Seegers remains at large, police said.

The victim in the machete attack was hospitalized for days, but has recovered, authorities said. Police are asking anyone with information on the attack to contact Det. Robert Mercado at 973-321-1120.

The city's police union applauded the stratgegy of working through Facebook to try to find Seegers. "I've got to give Captain Rodriguez a lot of credit for doing that,'' said Alex Cruz, president of the Policemen's Benevolent Association, Local 1. "This is an individual who has remorse,'' Cruz added about Seegers. "If he could do that, what else is he capable of?''

Cruz said Paterson has become much less safe after the police layoffs in April. "The numbers don't lie,'' he said, citing the 100 percent increase in nonfatal shootings.