The Rockland County police drone captured the in-progress attack on New Main Street while flying over the area for an unrelated case on July 11.
The victim, David Byrnes, in an interview with Eyewitness News on Thursday marveled at how technology came to his aid.
"The eye in the sky," Byrnes said. "It's amazing. It's just amazing how that happened."
West Haverstraw residents Valadmair Fogle, 19, David Ross, 23, and Elijah Eurie, 18, have each been charged with two counts of second-degree robbery, after the drone captured footage of them attacking Byrnes.
Byrnes was descending the front porch steps of his residence when the trio approached him, authorities said. The group grabbed Byrnes by his shirt before hitting him in the right eye, and striking him behind his neck, police said. They surrounded him as he fell to the ground, then took a silver chain from around his neck, authorities said. The trio then fled, running toward Clove Avenue.
"I got punched, probably all over my face, my side, my neck," Byrnes said. "And then when I went down, I got kicked a bunch of times."
Byrnes suffered from an eye injury and substantial pain.
"It lasted seconds, and I was just defending myself," he said.
If convicted, the three alleged attackers will face anywhere from 3.5 to 15 years in state prison.
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