STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A former Staten Island high school teacher and coach is thanking God for his life after he was brutally attacked with a knife while abroad in Italy.
Nicholas Pellegrino, 29, had his neck slashed in a robbery aboard a train during a visit to the European nation with friends from college.
Pellegrino taught Italian language and coached track and field at Monsignor Farrell High School in Oakwood from 2017-2022. He now lives out in San Francisco, California, where he teaches and coaches at a private high school.
Pellegrino was a student and track star himself at Farrell.
According to Pellegrino, “the hand of the devil” came down upon him at San Giuliano Milanese train station on Tuesday. It was around 11 a.m. that he departed from his friends to take public transit and continue his trip in Florence, Italy.
Nicholas Pellegrino, No. 659 in the middle, runs a race in 2018.(Advance/SILive.com | Derek Alvez)
After boarding the train, Pellegrino noticed four men fixating their eyes on him from about 10 rows away.
“I would look up, and they would look away, but then they’d continue to look back and eye me out,” he told the Advance/SILive.com.
He said he suspected the men “were up to no good.”
Pellegrino had his head down for just a moment when he said one of the men slashed his jugular vein with a pocket knife. By Pellegrino’s estimation, the wound let out over a liter of blood.
“He (the attacker) then ripped off the gold crucifix from my neck, and ran away with my luggage as the train doors opened,” he explained. “I was left on the platform screaming for my life.”
An ambulance arrived on the scene and transported the former Staten Island teacher to San Donato hospital. There, he said he received nine stitches and was operated on by cardiac surgeons in an attempt to ensure the vein did not undergo irreparable damage. After the surgery, he was given anticoagulants.
As of Thursday afternoon, Pellegrino was in stable condition and was given a positive diagnosis by his doctor.
“My life from this day forward is a miracle, I’ve been saved by the right hand of the almighty Father,” he said.
In the wake of the life-threatening attack, Pellegrino shared that numerous former students and athletes have reached out to him.
A GoFundMe has been created to support Pellegrino in covering his medical costs and the loss of his valuables. The fundraiser noted that Pellegrino “is too humble to ask for help.”
To visit the GoFundMe, go to gofundme.com/f/donate-to-nicks-medical-fund-after-attack-robbery.
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