***UPDATED 3:10 PM***
Newsday reports Nassau County police are filing hate-crime charges in this assault.
“The name-calling during the attacks this week as well as the teens’ “ongoing course of conduct” over several weeks or months prompted officers to charge the teens with hate crimes, police said in a news conference.”
“Spencer and Morrison were each charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and second-degree aggravated harassment, a felony. Wilson was charged with third-degree assault, police said.
“The bias crime distinction upgrades the charges one degree, making the defendants eligible for stiffer penalties.
“We felt this was bias-related,” Det. Lt. John MacEwen, commander of the Second Squad detectives, said at the news conference with Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey at police headquarters in Mineola.”
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A fourteen-year old male high school student in Hicksville, Long Island, NY was “stomped and kicked and mocked, all because of his sexual orientation,” in two separate attacks, Tuesday and Wednesday, according to local NYC area TV station WPIX. The fourteen year old victim was allegedly beaten and verbally assaulted on the school bus on his way home Tuesday, and then again Wednesday morning, by the same three students.
Nassau County Police say on Tuesday at 2:15 p.m., 18-year-old David Spencer of North Valley Stream, 16-year-old Chase Morrison of Lakeview and 14-year-old Roy Wilson of Baldwin assaulted their 14-year-old classmate on a bus leaving the Nassau BOCES Career Preparatory High School in Hicksville.
Spencer and Morrison threw insults at the victim who they apparently perceived to be gay as the pair and Wilson beat the boy up.
The victim was stomped and kicked on his arms, legs, stomach and thighs. He also suffered a visible bruise on his forearms and pain throughout his body.
Spencer and Morrison were charged with second-degree aggravated harassment and third-degree assault. Wilson was charged with third-degree assault.
David Kilmnick, Chief Executive Officer of Long Island Gay
and Lesbian Youth (LIGALY) released this statement in response to the
anti-gay attacks that took place on a BOCES bus in Hicksville:
This morning, 3 teens were arrested after a two-day anti-gay attack against
a student on school bus in Hicksville. Despite reports that homophobic
language was used throughout the violent beatings, The Nassau County
District Attorney has not brought hate crimes charges against the
assailants. Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth (LIGALY) demands that the
charges be upgraded to include a hate crimes charge.In the past month, we have seen massive media attention brought to the
suicide deaths of at least 7 GLBT young people. Events like these attacks
contribute to the epidemic of GLBT youth suicide, and inadequate response by
law enforcement and policy makers only further exacerbates the problem. A
clear message must be sent to the community that whether the attackers are
students on a school bus or candidates for public office like Carl Paladino,
homophobic language, harassment, and violence cannot, and will not be
tolerated. Those who continue to make the world unsafe for GLBT people will
face legal and social consequences for their actions. We demand the Nassau
County District Attorney to do the right thing and send a message that
bias-motivated attacks of any kind will be properly prosecuted in Nassau
County.More than 200 people will gather at The Long Island GLBT Community Center in
Bay Shore tonight at 7:00pm for a Candlelight Vigil and Rally. While our
hearts will be with the victim of today’s attack and with those we have lost
who couldn’t take the harassment anymore, our focus will be on making the
world better NOW for GLBT young people.