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| Five Hasodic Men Arrested In December Gay-Bashing (1177251) | |||
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Five Hasodic Men Arrested In December Gay-Bashing |
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Posted by JayZeeBMT on Thu Apr 24 08:59:42 2014 First they profiled Patterson because he was black, then they beat him within an inch of his life because he was gay, in front of a busload of witnesses, yet it took the NYPD four months to arrest anybody, then no hate crimes charges are filed??? (I have been told, repeatedly, that former Commissioner Ray Kelly, who plans to run for higher office one day, deliberately put this case on the back burner, knowing he'll need the support of the Satmar sect when he throws his hat into the ring. Of course, this is apocryphal, but how else to explain the delay in a case with dozens of witnesses AND photographs of the suspects? Politics are something else!)Arrests Made In December Gay-Bashing In Brooklyn By Nathan James The NYPD has arrested five young Hasidic men in connection with a vicious gay-bashing of a young fashion-design student in Brooklyn last December, detectives announced yesterday. The attack, which left 22-year-old Taj Patterson, a gay black man, with severe injuries including a fractured eye socket, was witnessed by scores of onlookers, who described the assailants as members of the Shomrim Patrol, an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood-watch group. Patterson, who was returning to his Fort Greene home from a local subway station, was set upon by "at least a dozen" attackers, and thrown to the ground, stomped, and punched. Patterson and witnesses said the suspects, Aharon Hollender, 28, Abraham Winkler, 39, Mayer Herskovic, 21, Pinchas Braver, 19, and Joseph Fried, 25, yelled anti-gay slurs as they beat their victim, and several Shomrim members, identifiable by the uniform jackets they wore, actively tried to prevent onlookers from photographing them or their vehicles during the Flushing Avenue assault. Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson, who charged the suspects with gang assault and other offenses, but not hate crimes, said, "We simply cannot allow anyone walking on the streets of Brooklyn to be knocked to the ground, stomped and brutally beaten,” adding that at least two of the men, Winkler and Hollander, were confirmed to be members of Shomrim. "I was kicked in the face," Patterson recalled, "and they were screaming 'stay down, f----t, stay the f--- down' as they beat me." The victim sustained head trauma, bruises, and a torn retina in addition to the fractured eye socket. A furious NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton decried the incident, saying, "These indictments send a clear message that acts of vigilantism are unacceptable and cannot be condoned by the NYPD." The suspects were allegedly looking for vandals in the area, a report of which was unfounded. They stopped Patterson anyway, police sources said. The arrests ended a four-month investigation into the attack, which sent shock waves of outrage across the city, which has been plagued by a rash of gay-bashings over the past year, including two homicides. All five of the suspects arraigned yesterday posted bail in amounts ranging from $25,000 to $50,000, pending trial. Assistant DA Charles Guria identified Herskovic as the ringleader, and said all the defendants could face up to 25 years behind bars if convicted. Meanwhile, Patterson continues a difficult recovery from what his doctors say could be "permanent" injuries. Officials of the Shomrim Patrol declined comment on the case, when reached by GBM News. |
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