Posted on 11/22/2005 5:43:50 PM PST by twas
Well-wishers Jessica Windnagle, 14, left, and her mother, Jackie, second from left, greet pizza deliveryman Donald Lockwood and his girlfriend, Lindsey Carter, at Lockwood's benefit party in Casa di Pizza on Monday evening.
Waking up in the intensivecare unit, Donald Lockwood's first thoughts after being nearly beaten to death while delivering a pizza were about his children.
"What am I going to do for my kids for Christmas?" he remembered thinking.
Monday night, his worries were quelled - and then some.
Hundreds of people gathered at Casa di Pizza on Elmwood Avenue, one of the two pizzerias where Lockwood worked, to raise money for him and his family.
Many who attended the benefit were friends.
Even more were strangers.
They wrote out checks, emptied their wallets of cash, and some even brought gifts for the children.
Lockwood, his right arm in a sling and his head badly scarred, could hardly find the words to convey his gratitude.
"I just can't express it," he said as he looked out at the room full of supporters. "It's just been awesome. . . . I'm just overwhelmed. I definitely never expected this."
On Nov. 7, Lockwood, 30, was doing deliveries for another pizzeria, Zip's Pizza on Grant Street, when he was attacked. He had taken the Zip's job to help pay for Christmas gifts for his little ones.
The assailants bashed him in the head with baseball bats and stomped on his back and chest.
He staggered to his car where his girlfriend, Lindsey Carter, was waiting for him. She dragged him into the vehicle, drove away and then called 911 for help.
Monday night, at Lockwood's benefit, his family presented Carter with a dozen roses and a certificate, thanking her for saving Lockwood's life.
"She's my angel," he said of Carter, as she lovingly tended to him.
Lockwood's father, Donald Miller, looked amazed as he watched his son walking and talking in the banquet room at Casa di Pizza, something he feared would never happen again.
"I didn't think he was going to make it," Miller recalled.
He, too, was grateful for all the strangers who came out to help his son.
"There are more good people than there's bad," Miller said. "That's for sure."
Among those who came to help was Mary Livingston, a Goodwill worker who brought presents for Lockwood's children.
"A doll and some race cars," she said. "I just feel bad for the guy. I wanted to help him out."
Jackie Windnagle of Clarence came to the event with her daughter, Jessica, 14, after hearing about Lockwood's struggles.
"It's Thanksgiving week," she said. "What better week to go?"
Buffalo Police Officer D.W. Draine Sr. took out all the cash in his pocket and put it in one of the donation boxes.
"I was profoundly moved," he explained.
Frank Pinzone, 48, a delivery man for Kensington Avenue Pizzeria - who himself was stabbed and robbed just last Thursday - came to show his support.
Justin Priola, 42, a family friend, said he had told Lockwood not to worry, that things would turn out well.
"The city is going to show you how they love people," he said. "Buffalo comes through. It always has."
What a great dad!
A second job at Christmas for his kids.
Awesome story. Americans come through for someone once again. His children are lucky to have a dad like him, and a community that values them.
It is my sincere hope that the scum who attacked this man spend the Holidays behind bars. However, even if they are never apprehended for this crime, I am confident bad things await them in the future regardless.
"There are more good people than there's bad,"
Sometimes I have to remember to tell my self this.
That's scary. Even with all those toys and goodies, what kind of community are this guy's kids living in?
I went to this benefit and I counted roughly 200 people. His two kids, a boy and a girl, are absolutely beautiful. The younger boy in particular was running around and all smiles. While it's sad his father had to suffer, the young boy was doing very good. They are a beautiful family.
When he delivered the pizza, he was pulled into the doorway when the door opened and he was immediately beaten with a bat.
He pleaded for them to stop saying, "take the money, please stop, take the money" but they kept hitting him until he went unconscious. He suffered multiple seizers. His prognosis was very bad. In seeing the original report, nobody thought he was going to make it. Thinking of his kids must have given him the will to survive.
He doesn't remember much about the attack nor did he get a look at the attackers. Even if he did, the story was reported in the Buffalo News and there is no way they would ever provide a description.
Last month, a 78 year old white woman was beaten to death in her home by a 42 year old black man. The Buffalo News never printed a picture of either. Only one of the local stations had the courage to show pictures of both.
Two years ago, an elderly white couple were stabbed to death in their home by a black man.
There have been many more reported incidents which lead any thinking person to make the connections. For example, just this weekend, a "suburban" man was beaten by a gang of thugs in the city. You can fill in the blanks.
Black on white crime in Buffalo is a major problem but the Buffalo News will not report it as such.
Okay,if you know so much about this, perhaps you know if a fund might be set up in Buffalo at a bank for this family???
Would love to donate
You might try emailing Maki Becker at:
becker@buffnews.com
She wrote the story.
I don't know of any fund.
There was only this benefit Monday night.
Naturally, blacks don't commit hate crimes against whites so nobody, not the police or the Buffalo News, asks questions or examines this angle.
And more elderly whites die at the hands of blacks.
I have book marked this thread and I just sent an email to the author requesting information. If she replies, I will post it here.
This story hits home, I'm working two jobs right now, and delivering pizzas is the second job. Thankfully our delivery area does not have much crime, though one section 8 apartment complex makes me nervous and I always do a deposit before delivering there.
The problem is that these guys have no idea if you make a deposit first. You could have nothing on you but they don't know that.
The best thing to do is to survey the area. Look to see if anyone is lurking around. Is the house dark? If so, don't go. If you sense trouble, and if you have a cell phone, call home base and let them know where you are and what the situation is like before you go in.
Pizza delivery guys have been a big target this year.
Here's another story that happend in "the projects". If you viewed the link to the first story and saw a second delivery man who was stabbed, this is his story:
Deliveryman stabbed at Kenfield-Langfield
11/18/2005
A pizza deliveryman was stabbed in the back and robbed Thursday night after dropping off an order at the Kenfield-Langfield Apartments, police said.
The 50-year-old worker had just made a delivery and was returning to his car at about 8:30 p.m. when he was approached from behind, said Lt. Margaret Sack of the Major Crimes Unit.
The assailant stabbed him once in the back and robbed the victim of a small amount of cash before fleeing, Sack said.
The deliveryman's injuries were not considered life-threatening.
The stabbing comes 10 days after Donald Lockwood, 30, a Zip's Pizza deliveryman, was severely beaten after he'd made a delivery on Buffalo's West Side. Lockwood was released from the hospital Wednesday.
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