Worker tackling violence is assaulted
Assistant city health commissioner suffers
facial fractures in attack
An assistant city health commissioner who oversees anti-violence initiatives was assaulted Friday in downtown Baltimore on his way back to work after having a sandwich for lunch.
Greg Sileo, who is recovering from multiple facial fractures, swelling and bruising, said he does not remember the attack, but according to police, he was assaulted at 1 p.m. by a group of juveniles at Baltimore and Commerce streets. The teens took his two cellphones and his wallet, Sileo said.
“I think we need to look into what is causing people to engage in this kind of behavior,” Sileo, 33, said Saturday after being discharged from the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. “A couple of young guys stealing my cellphones and ending up in jail doesn’t seem to be worth it.”
Sileo, who ran for a South Baltimore City Council seat last year, oversees various anti-violence programs at the Health Department, including the Office of Youth Violence Prevention and Safe Streets. He also is president of the Locust Point Civic Association.
He said the last thing he remembers before waking up in the emergency room was walking to the Health Department office on Redwood Street after meeting some co-workers for lunch at Leinenkugel’s Beer Garden at Power Plant Live.
The attack will give him new insight into how to help the agency carry out its violence prevention work, Sileo said. As part of the job he has held for less than a year, he participates in violence mediation meetings, school-based anti-violence programs and trauma-related interventions.
“Anytime you become a victim of violence, it changes your outlook,” Sileo said. “You don’t always recognize the impact it has. Having this perspective — while it wasn’t one I was looking for — puts it into perspective for me.”
Police said their investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call 410-366-6341.
Friday’s attack marks at least the second time a city official has been assaulted by juveniles in the last year.
In December, then-City Councilwoman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector was approached in a South Baltimore parking garage by two teens who threw her to the ground, beat her up and tried to steal her Buick. Police arrested a 13- and 15-year-old on charges of attempted robbery and first- and second-degree assault.
Spector, who was 80 at the time, was finishing out her final days on the council before retiring after a nearly 40-year tenure.
Police have been grappling with a rash of teen crimes in recent months.
Sileo, a city resident for 11 years, said his attack was “completely random.” He said Police Commissioner Kevin Davis visited him afterward, and Sileo said he has confidence the police will be able to find and charge the people responsible.
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