David Winward says it was last Monday night that his son, David Winward II, a waiter at Farmer's Cabinet, was out with coworkers at Jose Pistola's on South 15th Street in Center City.
They were doing a little post holiday celebrating.
At 8:17 p.m. he called his girlfriend saying he was getting on the Broad Street subway headed home to their apartment near Temple University.
"There were people waiting for him for another celebration. His girlfriend got into a new school and they were excited about that. It was a planned event that he was coming home to," his father said.
Winward never showed up.
Instead, at 9:35 p.m. that evening a passerby found him badly beaten on South 6th Street near Emily Street in South Philadelphia.
His father says he suffered numerous cuts and bruises about his head and it appears like he was kicked and stomped on the face.
David Winward II is in critical but stable condition in a medically induced coma at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
"The doctors don't really know the extent of his injuries because we can't get him conscious medically wise because he's got so many other things going on right now," Winward Sr. said.
Winward's wallet was missing but his cell phone and iPod were still on his person.
In addition to who or why someone would beat him so badly, his family wants to know how instead of leaving the bar on South 15th and headed north on the Broad Street subway, he ended up about 20 blocks south in a drug infested area.
His family says he was a little inebriated, but he was not a known drug user.
His family is hoping someone out there can fill in the blanks on what happened.
"Parents out there, that have children, please put yourself in my shoes. Look at it from our end. Any information that you have, I would hate for this to happen to anybody else out there and not somebody share that information," his father said.
The Citizens Crime Commission is administering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for this vicious assault. If you have information, call them at 215-546-TIPS.
