Police Investigate Greenwich Village Beating As Possible Hate Crime
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are looking for two men in a possible anti-gay hate crime in the beating of a man outside of a Greenwich Village McDonald's last weekend.
Police said two men shouted gay slurs while beating Damian Furtch, 26, outside the fast food restaurant on West Third Street and Sixth Avenue around 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
Furtch, who had just moved to New York from California, posted Facebook pictures of his injuries which include two black eyes and multiple stitches.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she finds the attack "upsetting" and "deeply disappointing," especially since it happened "in a neighborhood where the LGBT civil rights movement was really born."
Quinn insists these crimes, which she calls a "total act of cowardice" and "absolute bullying," will not be tolerated.
"Some people still think that hate crimes are kind of a joke in New York City, that it's just some type of adult bullying that doesn't have any consequences and we want people to know that that is simply not true," Quinn told 1010 WINS. "We are not going to allow you to attack people because of who they are or who they think you are."
Quinn said the suspects will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
