‘It Could Have Been Worse’: Navy Veteran Jumped and Beaten While Walking Dog in Philadelphia

Scott Harris, 62, was beaten and robbed while walking his dog, Nora, by a crowded park near his home in Brewerytown, Philadelphia.

Harris suffered a brain injury, broken teeth, and severe swelling and bruising to his face, Fox 29 reported. The doctor who tended to Harris’s wounds said he sewed over 100 stitches in the Navy veteran’s face. 

“I did a year in a war zone in Iraq, did two years in Ukraine, and would not have expected this to happen in my own neighborhood,” Harris told Fox 29. 

Harris and his partner, Joseph Hurchick, have complained to authorities multiple times about large gatherings in the parks near their neighborhood, but unfortunately, police have failed to address their complaints. 

“This is what happens when something is not policed; it could have been worse,” Hurchick said. “It’s going to take a murder for this to stop.”

It is unknown how many assailants jumped Harris, who was robbed of his wallet. Inside Harris’s wallet were his credit cards, ID, and a special memento that reminded him of his mother, NBC 10 reported. 

“Sadly, the only thing I really cared about in that wallet was my mother’s driver’s license,” Harris told the news outlet. “She passed away about 10 years ago. That’s kind of how I kept her close, and now I don’t even have that.”

Harris said he had no recollection of the attack when he woke up in the hospital bed. According to Hurchick, three women had brought Harris back to his home. 

“They brought him back; otherwise, I don’t know what would have happened,” Hurchick told Fox 10. “We were on the stoop, and he was just bleeding; I was on the phone with 911; I didn’t know where the blood was coming from; I didn’t know if he was stabbed.”

At a Philadelphia block party this month, a 19-year-old was killed, and eight were injured after multiple gunmen shot off rounds in Parkside, Breitbart News reported.