DOVER TOWNSHIP -- Larry Radomski was sleeping in his tent the night he was assaulted.
Yesterday, Radomski, 50, stood in a wooded clearing alongside the blue-tarp-covered shelter that is his tent and described the attack: "They used a baseball bat and a steel rod to hit me."
Police said Radomski, who lives in the woods behind the Quicky Lube off Route 37, is one of at least four homeless people who were attacked over the past few months by a group of five seniors from Toms River High School North.
The students, who were arrested late Tuesday afternoon and charged with aggravated assault, were out "bum hunting" and used weapons, including baseball bats, a golf club, metal rods and hockey pucks, in addition to their fists, to assault their victims, police said.
One suspect is Frank Novak, 18, of Bowling Green Drive, who is free on $50,000 bail. The other four are 17; their names have not been released by police because they are juveniles. Two were in detention yesterday. Two others had been released to their parents.
The assaults have shocked the community and have brought unwanted negative attention to High School North, the largest of the Toms River Regional school district's three high schools.
"A lot of the students at the high school are upset because it brings so much negative publicity to the school," Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco said.
Ritacco said faculty and students alike still do not understand the motivation.
"It is such a terrible crime against people who have such difficulty every day of their lives. It necessitates us, really, as a school district, to go back and teach about compassion and serving others," the superintendent said.
A litany of injuries
Radomski was attacked last Friday night and wound up at Community Medical Center after suffering five broken ribs, a punctured lung and a fractured right arm. Yesterday, he said his arm still hurt and he was frightened by what had happened to him.
"I'm very scared about this whole situation," said Radomski, who has lived in the wooded area for about two years. Often his friend Dave Dixon joins him at the makeshift camp, sleeping nearby in a yellow tent.
But last Friday, Dixon was not there, having gone to stay with his girlfriend. "If he was here that night, he would have done some damage to these guys," Radomski said.
Radomski, who grew up in Rahway but moved to Pine Beach when he was a young man, attended Toms River High School South but did not graduate, he said, because his mother became ill. He said he dropped out of school but later received a high school equivalency degree.
For several years, he has worked at Star Brite Car Wash, alongside Quicky Lube.
Quicky Lube manager John Kingsley said Radomski had emerged from the woods Saturday morning "literally stumbling . . . he said he was beat up real bad."
Kingsley, who lives in Stafford's Manahawkin section, said he called 911, and Radomski was taken to the hospital by Dover's police EMS unit.
"It's really just a shame. It's horrible," Kingsley said of the assaults. "A lot of the businesses in the area, they know Larry, and they all love him. . . . Most people won't even get to know him, but he is a great guy. He would give you the shirt off his back."
Kingsley said he has offered to let Radomski sleep in the office at Quicky Lube, but Radomski turned him down. "He just doesn't really want any help from anyone," Kingsley said.
Since the assault happened, Radomski has been sleeping in a couch inside Kingsley's van in the business's parking lot, Kingsley said. "He's been crashing there. I guess he feels safer," Kingsley said.
Camping is his choice
Radomski said he likes living in the woods.
"I just wanted to camp out here," he said of his reasons for living outside. "It's fun to camp in the woods."
Radomski's campsite includes a barbecue grill, a red Raleigh bicycle for getting around and a plastic American flag tied to a tree branch. A portable stereo and a chair sit outside the tent, a blue umbrella hangs on a tree branch, and a gray plastic sword hangs from a tree limb.
A pile of blue Natural Light beer cans sits alongside his tent, and a path to a local liquor store is marked with beer cans and bottles stuck to tree limbs.
"All you have to do is follow the cans," Radomski joked.
Police estimate there are 10 to 20 homeless people living in Dover. Besides Radomski's camp site, other areas where the homeless live include wooded spots near Routes 166 and the Garden State Parkway, and near power lines off Route 37 West.
In a wooded area behind the Emerald Apartments off Route 166, a small group of homeless people has lived for several years, sleeping in large concrete drainage pipes left over from a construction project. Mattresses and clothing are kept inside the pipes, and piles of beer cans, a grill and empty water jugs litter the area nearby.
Detective Mark Bajada said the teenagers apparently followed the homeless and knew where their campsites were located.
Radomski, his right arm wrapped in bandages yesterday, said that about three weeks ago, he was sitting outside his tent with his friend Dixon when three teenage males approached them to say "hello." Radomski said he believes at least two of his assailants were among those visitors.
Bajada said the number of homeless people living outside here varies from season to season. Many of the homeless move to shelters or stay with friends or family members when the weather turns coldest, he said.
Boasted to other students
"These guys are passive people," Bajada said. "They're not harming anybody. It's reprehensible, what happened to them -- to beat them with baseball bats and pipes and then go around bragging about it in school."
The five students were caught using information developed by Officer Kevin Scully, High School North's school resource officer. Scully is one of five officers assigned to work in the township's three high schools and two intermediate schools.
Police yesterday were investigating the possibility that the students may have been imitating a video series known as "Bum Fights." The videos, available on the Internet, show graphic images of homeless people fighting each other.
The videos have been strongly criticized because the producers admitted they paid the homeless to fight for the camera.
The investigation into the assaults is continuing. Anyone with more information about the incidents should call Detective Randy Petrick at (732) 349-0150, Ext. 7252.
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