Near-fatal beating of Buffalo man in West Village investigated as possible hate crime, say police

BY Barry Paddock, Alison Gendar and Wil Cruz
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Roving hoodlums were out for blood when they bashed in the head of an accountant on a West Village street Thursday, possibly because he was gay, police said.

"I got him good," one of the punks allegedly boasted after the gang jumped Alan Williams, 50, as he was hailing a cab around 2 a.m. Thursday.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the NYPD is investigating the near-fatal beating as a "possible bias attack."

(snip)

Residents told cops a group of troublemakers in the area has been hassling transvestites and gay men.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/14/2009-05-14_nearfatal_beating_of_buffalo_man_in_west_village_investigated_as_possible_hate_c.html#ixzz0FboFJCVX&B

What was once a relatively safe 'gayborhood' for the LGBT community has become increasingly more dangerous the past few years. And it looks as if it's more than just some bored bridge and tunnel boys from Jersey harassing the locals.

Yeah. It's real safe and easy for us to be openly gay here.

I'd like to see them pick on someone my size. :grr:

who takes hate-crimes seriously. I would like to see these people spending a Long, Long time in prison and undergoing mandatory psychiatric care for their uncontrolled violent hatred of us.

:cry:

like the Matthew Sheparhd case? ( Do I need a sarcasm?)

:(

Not you, not here. But I'm sure we will all hear quite a bit from people who think hate crime legislation is "thought crime persecution." x(

Attacking a gay man in the heart of the west villiage, in front of a gay club, and a block from The historic Stonewall can't be just a mugging. It is a deliberate message to all LGBT people that they are out to get us and they don't care if we know it. They are daredevils issuing a challege, threatening all of us.

As a threat aimed at all of us it is a crime against all of us. I go through that area frequently. I know I'm scared. :(

If gay bashers can walk around with impunity HERE attacking us then things are more volatile everywhere than I thought. :cry:

I hope Mr. Williams will be okay. I hope he can make a full recovery, and hope he has very good insurance to cover all of this.

The article doesn't say that people were able to stop the group of attackers, or identify any of them. I hope the police are able to find them, and I hope they take this seriously. Far too often the cops laugh when crimes are committed against us.

I've had NYPD officers laugh in my face when an issue involved a male roommate because they assumed there was a somehow gay relationship angle to it. (there wasn't) I know from first hand experience sitting and hanging out with others here in NYC that we've all got horror stories about the NYPD not treating us equally, fairly or with respect. Despite that, I hope they take this at least seriously enough to find those thugs and charge them with attempted murder.

:grr:

As soon as I heard that it was 2:30 a.m. and the man was in his 50s I figured he was leaving the Monster. I live in the neighborhood, btw. I think they ran off before police got there. I know that at 10:30 a.m. there was still blood on the street. Here's the story from the Voice, with photo:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/05/man_beaten_in_v.php

(In a civilized society, cowardly behavior like this is unacceptable. And I don't care who instigated the violence, or why, without damn good reason. I don't think there's any reason even remotely "good" here. Certainly none that's justified.)

when I grew up in the West Village (Christopher St.). The neighorhood teenage "macho" boys would make a night out of beating up gays and the police would turn a blind eye to it all. You would in 2009 things would be different? I wonder how much it due to the right wing "christian" element among law enforcement?

It is just stranger violence or is it same sex domestic volence too where they turn a blind eye? I know when daughter was living on LI with a SO and had to call the police, they treated her situation the same as any straight couple. They wrote up a report, let her press charges, read her her rights, gave her phone numbers, etc., etc. They even drove by the house several nights in a row to make sure. We were very pleasantly surprised at how equally she was treated under the domestic violence laws.

Is Long Island more progessive than NYC? I find that hard to believe.