A 48-year-old Philadelphia man is recovering in the hospital after at least five men brutally attacked him following a car crash on Roosevelt Boulevard on Oct. 30, he exclusively told NBC10.
Saintilus Metelus says he was driving home from work near Mascher Street in the city’s Olney neighborhood when two men in a white Jeep Cherokee rear-ended his vehicle.
Metelus says he got out of his car after the crash, and the situation quickly escalated into a violent attack.
Cellphone video recorded by a witness and also exclusively obtained by NBC10 shows Metelus being beaten along Roosevelt Boulevard.
Metelus, who immigrated to the United States from Haiti in 2021, suffered head trauma and cuts to his body.
Speaking from his hospital bed through family members translating his Haitian Creole, Metelus described the physical and emotional toll of the attack.
“He said emotionally he is not ok at all. He said if he didn’t have a wife, who he loves and people around him who he respects and loves or if he wasn’t a man of god he probably could have taken his life because of what happened,” a family member said while translating his remarks.
His family says the attackers also stole his driver’s license, insurance information and work visa. They allege someone even tried to use his debit card.
Now, the family is questioning how Philadelphia police have handled the case.
According to relatives, officers responded to the scene of the attack but did not file a report until the following day, while Metelus was hospitalized.
“So we don’t have answers as to what happened. Who those people were. He’s never met them. He’s never seen them,” said Geraldine Lebrun, a family member.
The family says it has received little information about the five men allegedly involved or what steps investigators have taken since the attack.
“Justice has not been served and this is why we reached out. We don’t know what to do. We do see that a lot as immigrants other people look at us like they don’t have anyone to help them so let me attack them,” Lebrun said.
NBC10 reached out to Philadelphia police seeking information about the incident, including what documentation exists and whether criminal charges could be filed.
Police had not responded to those questions as of the time of the original broadcast report.
For Metelus and his family, the unanswered questions have added to the emotional toll of an attack that left him hospitalized and searching for justice.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.
