Heros work on Xanadu

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PARAMUS - A Westwood man said he didn't stop to think before scaring off three men who were savagely beating a teenager at a Paramus Road bus stop on Saturday.

Edward Monahan, 26, of Westwood frightened away three men who were beating a teenager at a Paramus bus shelter.

Edward Monahan said when he saw the attack, he had to act.

"I saw how vicious the attack was and what kind of condition he was in," Monahan said. "I had to act immediately."

Monahan, 26, had just left work around 4 p.m. on Saturday and was on his way to meet his wife at her parents' home in Fair Lawn when he saw three men beating another man under a bus shelter.

"They just kind of exploded out of the bus stop and the kid is on the ground on all fours," Monahan said.

"I had to swerve to avoid him," he said.

Monahan said he pulled over and ran toward the injured man, whom police described on Tuesday only as an 18-year-old Paterson man.

The three assailants, who Monahan said were wearing bandannas over their faces, scattered into the bushes next to Paramus Road.

The victim told police that the men approached him and demanded that he hand over his iPhone, police said.

The device was reported stolen but was found in the bushes near the site of the attack later on Saturday. Police continued to search for the attackers on Tuesday.

Monahan, had just left his job at the Interstate Drywall Co., which is helping to build the Meadowlands Xanadu shopping complex.

The victim, an employee at Victoria's Nursery, "was really badly shaken up," Monahan said. "He had the biggest welt I'd ever seen - it covered his whole neck and shoulder. He had a fat lip that was cut and bleeding. He had road rash on his elbows and knees from getting thrown on the ground."

The man was treated at the scene but declined to be transported to a hospital, said Paramus Police Chief Richard Cary.

Cary credited Monahan with scuttling the attack before it got worse.

"The victim had attempted to flee, and when he did that he was knocked to the ground and they began beating him," Cary said. "My feeling is that would have continued had Mr. Monahan not stopped there."

Heros. Good to know.