Police: Man beaten and robbed on Osborn Avenue late last night

Riverhead Town Police are searching for four people who beat and robbed a man on Osborn Avenue near the railroad tracks late last night.

The victim was robbed of his cell phone after the group — two males and two females — struck him repeatedly about the head and face with an unknown object, according to police. He was treated at the scene by Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps and transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center. His injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

Police responded to 303 Osborn Avenue  at 11:19 p.m. Thursday on the report that a man had been assaulted. The victim, a Hispanic male, was bleeding from the head and face, according to a police press release issued early this morning. He told police he was on Osborn Avenue when he was attacked and beaten with an object by four assailants, whom he described as two black males and two black females, according to the report.

Police patrol and K9 units searched the area but did not locate the suspects.

The investigation is ongoing and police ask anyone who may have witnessed the crime or who may have information concerning the identity of the subjects involved to contact the Riverhead Police detective division at 631-727-4500 Ext. 332.

In early 2014, there was a string of violent muggings targeting Latino men in the vicinity of last night’s attack. Some of those incidents reportedly involved multiple assailants who used objects — including a stick, a rock and the butt of a gun, according to victims — to beat the men before removing their cell phones and cash.

The rash of crimes led town officials to reconstitute the town’s anti-bias task force and issue warnings to the Latino community to take safety precautions.

Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said in July 2014 that a man charged in a “strong-arm” robbery on Route 58 on July 10, 2014 was a suspect in at least some of those muggings.

Supervisor Sean Walter also reached out to the Guardian Angels, hoping the group could help the town forge better communications with the Latino community. That move, made over the objection of the Riverhead Police Benevolent Association, also drew criticism from the downtown business community.