Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

NYACK – A 24-year-old village man remained hospitalized Wednesday after being whacked in the face with a baseball bat and knocked unconscious during a brawl between two groups Tuesday night near Memorial Park, Orangetown police said.

The brawl erupted between a group of about 25 men and women and a group of six to eight people around 9 p.m. on Piermont Avenue and Hudson Avenue, police said.

The two groups had converged just outside the park's upper lawn on Piermont Avenue when the larger group began taunting and throwing bottles at the victim and his friends, Orangetown police Detective Lt. James Brown said Wednesday.

The victim was hit in the face with a bat, then the suspect and his friends fled on Hudson Avenue towards Broadway, Brown said.

The victim was unconscious when police arrived and was taken to Nyack Hospital for treatment. Brown said he had not been able to obtain updated information on the man's condition or extent of his injuries due to medical privacy laws.

The assailant was described as a black man about 20 years old, 5-feet-11-inches tall, 150 pounds wearing a gray tank top and gray shorts.

Brown said police are still investigating what caused the confrontation.

"As far as we know, this is an isolated incident," he said.

He said Orangetown patrol officers try and enforce curfews at the park after dark, but the fight occurred outside its borders.

Mayor Jen White called the attack "horrible" but said police are vigilant in the area. She also noted that 9 p.m. wasn't particularly late.