TurboTer
Zap! Commander
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
- Messages
- 1,578
April 13, 2004 -- The defiant Polish immigrant who was shot in the arm and leg for not handing over his $50 cellphone to a robber is lucky he didn't lose a limb, his doctor said yesterday.
"I don't think he realizes how lucky he is," said Bellevue Hospital's Dr. Maurizio Miglietta of robbery victim Marcin Muchalski, who was shot Sunday.
"He kind of dismisses this as a relatively minor injury, but I can tell you the gunshot wound in his leg missed a major artery that in a lot of cases needs amputation and you lose a leg. He's very lucky."
Despite the danger, and the two bullet holes, Muchalski says he'd probably still refuse to hand over his Nokia handset if the robbery happened again.
"Probably yes, but maybe not. You can't say for sure," he said yesterday from his wheelchair on the hospital's 16th floor.
The stubborn photography student was riding his bike on the Williamsburg Bridge early Sunday when a man with a gun stopped him.
Muchalski, 26, explained he had nothing valuable on him, but the gunman noticed his cellphone and demanded he hand it over.
"I was like, 'I can't,' " Muchalski said of the simple cellphone that sells for about $50. "It's not that I love my cellphone so much or anything like that. I just didn't want [to]."
First the robber hit Muchalski on the head with a gun that looked like a toy. And then he got angrier when Muchalski continued to hold out.
"I said 'No.' And he got mad, very mad, so he shot," Muchalski said.
The first bullet tore a hole in Muchalski's leg but he still held onto the phone.
And when a second bullet ripped into his forearm, the bicyclist abandoned his bike - but not the phone - and started running.
His decision paid off. After he phoned cops on the cell, they arrested his alleged attacker Julius Griffin a few blocks away.
The 47-year-old suspect was arraigned and charged with attempted murder, robbery and criminal possession of a firearm. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/22704.htm
"I don't think he realizes how lucky he is," said Bellevue Hospital's Dr. Maurizio Miglietta of robbery victim Marcin Muchalski, who was shot Sunday.
"He kind of dismisses this as a relatively minor injury, but I can tell you the gunshot wound in his leg missed a major artery that in a lot of cases needs amputation and you lose a leg. He's very lucky."
Despite the danger, and the two bullet holes, Muchalski says he'd probably still refuse to hand over his Nokia handset if the robbery happened again.
"Probably yes, but maybe not. You can't say for sure," he said yesterday from his wheelchair on the hospital's 16th floor.
The stubborn photography student was riding his bike on the Williamsburg Bridge early Sunday when a man with a gun stopped him.
Muchalski, 26, explained he had nothing valuable on him, but the gunman noticed his cellphone and demanded he hand it over.
"I was like, 'I can't,' " Muchalski said of the simple cellphone that sells for about $50. "It's not that I love my cellphone so much or anything like that. I just didn't want [to]."
First the robber hit Muchalski on the head with a gun that looked like a toy. And then he got angrier when Muchalski continued to hold out.
"I said 'No.' And he got mad, very mad, so he shot," Muchalski said.
The first bullet tore a hole in Muchalski's leg but he still held onto the phone.
And when a second bullet ripped into his forearm, the bicyclist abandoned his bike - but not the phone - and started running.
His decision paid off. After he phoned cops on the cell, they arrested his alleged attacker Julius Griffin a few blocks away.
The 47-year-old suspect was arraigned and charged with attempted murder, robbery and criminal possession of a firearm. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/22704.htm
