Anti-Gay Hate Crime Attack in Williamsburg
S. 3rd Street
- A man walking his dogs on S. 3rd Street last week had his nose and eye socket broken by a man who called him a faggot, the Brooklyn Paper reports. The 40-year-old victim, who lives around the corner from the attack, passed a group of men sitting on a stoop between Bedford and Berry; “Someone started screaming, ‘Hey you, faggot,’” the man told the paper. “I turned around and gave him a look like, ‘What the hell?’ and the next thing I know the guy starts punching me in the face.” His nose was broken in four places; rather than defend himself, he clung to his dogs’ leashes. The 35-year-old assailant remained on the stoop and was arrested for assault, resisting arrest, and possession of a controlled substance. The victim is asking the DA to prosecute the attack as a hate crime.
There has been an uptick in anti-gay attacks in New York this year. Six weeks ago, the Daily News reported that “the NYPD is on pace to investigate about twice the number of anti-gay incidents in 2013—from slurs to felony assaults—compared to 2012”; 41 of the 68 were assaults. (In 2012, police investigated 54 cases.) Among others: in May, a man was punched in the face on the J train after being called homophobic slurs; around the same time, a man was punched and kicked in Prospect Park while called a “faggot.”
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