A Brooklyn grandfather has died after he was brutally beaten into a coma on his way to his construction job, police and family members said Monday.
Moses James, 58, was found lying on the ground with severe head trauma near Belmont Ave. and Watkins St. in Brownsville about 4:30 a.m. Sept. 13. Cops determined he’d been pummeled by a group of people who all ran off.
James was taken to Brookdale University Hospital in critical condition, and after clinging to life for four days, he died Friday.
“He was on his way to work that morning,” his sister Felicia James said. “He was working on some construction for housing. Maybe they was trying to rob him or something.”
James lived near the scene of the beating, his siblings told the Daily News.
“I don’t know what he had on him that morning,” Felicia James said.
His death has been declared a homicide.
“He had injuries to his head, his face, and I’m quite sure there were injuries to his body as well because of what they said occurred,” sister Melvina Haynes said. “How could a human being have that much anger to do that someone, and then walk around? That means that you don’t have a conscience.”
James’ two sisters visited him at the hospital, praying he’d come out of his coma and recover, but he never regained consciousness.
“I think that they deserve to be punished for the crimes that they committed. My brother didn’t deserve to lay out in the street like a dog left to die,” Felicia James said.
Police have made no arrests.
James grew up in Brownsville and East New York and had three grown children, his sisters said.
“It’s hard on all of us,” Felicia James said.
“He was kind, loving, very family-oriented. He was funny,” Melvina Haynes remembered. “He would crack little jokes, and he was very intelligent… He just really enjoyed family, and he loved his grandchildren and his nieces and nephews.”
Every day after work, Haynes said her brother would stop by to see her, punctuating each visit with a kiss on the forehead.
And that’s what she’ll miss the most, Haynes said — “his laughter, his smile, and his kiss on my forehead.”
