A hotel bartender who lost an eye during a brawl at the DMV Music Awards last month has come forward in an attempt to help police track down the woman who attacked him at the Hyatt Regency in Arlington. The employee, identified only as Antonio, appeared in an videotaped interview with an Arlington detective that police placed on YouTube last week. When asked what he would say to his assailant, Antonio responded, “Why have you done such an evil thing? Put yourself in my shoes, put your hand to your heart, think and act appropriately.”
Computer savvy police departments have increasingly used the Internet to put up surveillance videos or most wanted information to help capture criminals, but this is the first time that detectives have gone online with a victim’s statement.
Arlington police spokeswoman Detective Crystal Nosal said detectives were looking for ways to move the case forward while having as little effect on the victim as possible. The bartender was traumatized and in no shape to face questions from the media, she said.
“For having 1,500 people at the event, there have to be witnesses, but we’re not getting people to come forward,” Nosal said. “If they realized the extent of the victim’s injuries, someone may come forward.”
The hotel is offering a $5,000 reward for the capture of the assailant.
In the video, Antonio’s face is blurred to hide his identity. An Arlington detective asks how the attack has changed his life and affected his family.
He’s had two eye surgeries and hopes to get a prosthetic eye. He can’t work and his wife and son quit their jobs to help take care of him. His family is scraping by on worker’s compensation.
Antonio said he could not walk or bathe himself.
“I needed help to get into bed, go to the bathroom, even eat, just like a child,” he said.
Police also have released images of the female suspect that are at the end of the video, which is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcMD2tl9BI
Anyone with information about the assault can call Detective John Donaggio at 703-228-4167.
