NYPD Investigating Four Random Homophobic Attacks
Image: (Left) A 20-year-old who was stabbed after the Pride March and (Right) Dr Sina Rezaie
A 29-year-old New York based Doctor has been left needing emergency surgery for a broken jaw, after he was the target of a senseless and brutal attack whilst walking home. It is just one in a number of homophobic attacks to take place in New York in recent weeks.
“He called me a ——- and then half a block later, he came from behind and kicked and punched me multiple times,” Sina Rezaie told NBC New York from his hospital bed on Saturday.
Detectives in New York city are now left trying to ascertain whether or not Rezaie was indeed the target of a targeted hate crime. However, what is hampering investigations is a lack of CCTV footage from the assault, this despite security cameras being in active use across the neighbourhood.
Called Homophobic Slurs
Rezaie alleges that while he was walking home from the subway in Greenwich Village, the perpetrator began yelling out homophobic slurs. The altercation then quickly escalated when the man came up behind him, violently attacking him and leaving his jaw broken in two places.
Witnesses say they saw Rezaie then stumble into a nearby venue to seek help, where Laurie Beck and Richard Delay both friends of the victim were thankfully working at the time
“I just kind of saw our friend walking outside kind of erratically and I called [Delay’s] attention ‘go see what’s going on with our neighbour, it looks like he’s distressed.’ [Daley] went outside to check it out, then he starts waving to me, so I grabbed a bottle of water and some paper towels and ran outside,” Beck told NBC.
Daley added that he saw him holding his mouth, blood running out from face “He said that he had gotten attacked by some guy who said something to him as he came off the train. Apparently, the guy called him a slur and then threw him to the ground, and started kicking him repeatedly,”
Transferred to hospital Rezaie was treated by doctors, and as a result of emergency procedures, will face at least a month with his jaw banded shut with screws and metal plates. Rezaie who had up until the assault had always felt safe in the neighbourhood told NBC that “I don’t know why this happened to me.”
Spate Of Homophobic Attacks
This is the fourth homophobic attack reported in New York in the past month.
On the 30th of June, a 29-year-old man was stabbed in the shoulder after being called a faggot by a fellow subway passenger at Chelsea Station. The victim was at the time returning from New York Pride Week celebrations.
The incident was the second stabbing in recent weeks, follow a 20-year-old victim being stabbed after standing up for a women being harassed at St George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island. Both attacks have been referred to and are under investigation by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.
In another incident on June 25, a 22-year-old was hit on the side of the head and called an anti-gay slur on sixth Avenue near Christopher Street. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task force is investigating the incident.
