Staten Island man, a Jets fan, is viciously beaten while attending Colts game in Indianapolis
By Doug Auer
Family photoI'm not looking too cute right now,a said Robert Formola, 30, who as a result of the brutal assault Sunday outside Lucas Oil Stadium suffered a depressed skull fracture with contusion to temporal lobe,a according to the medical report.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A die-hard Jets fan from New Dorp who drove the 720 miles to Indianapolis with two friends to watch his beloved team take on the Colts was set upon by a vicious assailant who fractured his skull.
Doctors had to insert a metal plate in his head.
"I'm not looking too cute right now," said Robert Formola, 30, who as a result of the brutal assault Sunday outside Lucas Oil Stadium suffered a "depressed skull fracture with contusion to temporal lobe," according to the medical report.
Formola, an account manager with Prompt Mailers on Staten Island, spoke to the Advance from the recovery room in Wishard Memorial Hospital.
Besides the titanium plate in the left side of his head, Formola has 30 staples running along his hairline and may never again be able to play two other sports he loves, hockey and softball.
"Say what you will about the Meadowlands, but they have people protecting you," he said. "After I was hit, my friends couldn't get an event security guard -- no cops at all."
Formola had waited 15 years before finally snagging Jets season tickets two years ago, so there was no way he was about to miss the Jets challenge the Colts for the American Football Conference championship.
On Saturday afternoon, he and his buddies, identified only as Kenny and John, began the 12-hour trek to Indy.
Arriving early Sunday morning, the trio settled into a hotel, ate breakfast and then scoped out friendly Jets turf.
Formola and his pals parked on Miekel Street, one block south of the stadium. On Sunday, it was lined with RVs crammed with partying Jet fans.
"It was all cool -- we had the Jets chant going loud and proud," said Formola, noting that some Colts fans commended the New Yorkers for traveling so far to root on charismatic Head Coach Rex Ryan, wonderboy quarterback Mark Sanchez and the rest of Gang Green. "I really thought it was gonna be a Super Bowl kind of day."
Inside the stadium, Formola and pals roared their approval as the Jets forged a 17-13 halftime lead.
But after the break, things got ugly -- for the Jets and, eventually, Formola.
Late in the fourth quarter, with the Jets trailing 30-17 and the Super Bowl dreams dashed, Formola and his friends left.
"The game was kind of out of hand at that point," said Formola, adding that Colts backers had begun to razz the Jets fans.
Back on Miekel Street, Formola and John were waiting for Kenny when a melee broke out nearby.
Formola, who took cover behind an RV, said he was mistakenly identified by someone as being party to the fight.
"All I heard was, 'That's the guy that hit you,' and before I could turn around, I was walloped."
Formola had been cold-cocked with the wooden leg of a police barrier. His assailant apparently fled the scene.
"I looked at Kenny -- who had shown up but I don't know when -- put my head into his chest and realized I was gushing blood," said Formola. "I told them, 'I don't feel too good,' and then, next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital with a nurse over me."
Formola's friends later told him he had "dropped down like a ton of bricks."
"Who does that, with no regard for human life?" wondered Formola's sister, Lori Clinton of Old Bridge, N.J. "Hopefully there's no permanent damage, but this never should've happened."
Formola awoke Monday out of a medically induced coma to see his parents, Carol and Anthony, who had flown in to comfort their son.
"They're both really upset," said Formola.
The entire family has expressed frustration at the way the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is handling the case.
"Aren't there security cameras they can look at, or don't they have any witnesses?" Ms. Clinton said. "They certainly aren't the NYPD, that's for sure."
A call to the Robbery Aggravated Assault Unit, which is heading the investigation, wasn't returned.
As for Formola, he bears no ill will toward Indianapolis, the Colts or their fans.
"Everybody was cool except that one guy that hit me," he said.
Formola looks forward to returning home soon and making a full recovery. He said he can't wait to cheer on the Jets next season and is eager to make a road trip to Soldier Field in Chicago to see the Jets play the Bears.
But, a trip to Indianapolis isn't on the itinerary.
Said Formola: "I won't ever go to another Colts game."
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