Posted on 06/30/2005 4:56:10 AM PDT by Abathar
NEW YORK (AP) - Three black men who ventured into a historically white neighborhood early Wednesday to steal a car were chased by a man with a baseball bat, police said. One man was beaten and suffered a fractured skull.
The attack happened several hours before dawn in the same section of the borough of Queens as an infamous 1986 beating of three black men whose car had broken down.
In Wednesday's attack, Nicholas Minucci, 21, was being charged with first-degree assault as a hate crime, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a news conference.
The three blacks told investigators they had been looking for a car to steal when they entered the Howard Beach neighborhood. They told police a white man in an SUV passed them in the street, exchanged stares with them and then returned with two friends and a baseball bat before chasing them on foot.
Glen Moore, 20, stumbled to the ground and was beaten, suffering a fractured skull. He was in serious condition. The other two men escaped and summoned police, who scouted the neighborhood with them and spotted the SUV again.
Police stopped the vehicle and found the bat inside. The driver was arrested, and officers were seeking two other suspects.
The hate crime charge is punishable by a minimum of eight years in prison. The district attorney said that he didn't know if Minucci had a lawyer and that he would be arraigned Thursday.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he and the police commissioner would not allow such "an ugly incident" to divide the city.
"We've accomplished too much to let that happen," he said, noting that the area had been free of such crimes for at least two years.
On Dec. 20, 1986, a group of white teenagers attacked three black men who were stranded in the neighborhood when their car stalled.
One of the men was fatally struck by a car as he fled. Another was beaten with a baseball bat and tree branches. The third escaped.
The attack ignited racial tension in New York and was compared to a lynching by then-Mayor Ed Koch. Eight of the teenagers were convicted or pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter, assault, conspiracy and rioting.
I saw this on AP last night. The way it was written and the event itself was very disturbing; three black guys in the neighborhood to steal a car, three residents see this and confront them but the story mentions the "Howard Beach Incident" and the police arrest the white guys for a "hate crime," which can carry an eight year sentence. Amazing.
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A. I'm from Middle Village. B. I never got jumped, just responded in a radio car to a few times that the Howard Beach heroes got territorial with other white guys they didn't know. C. Anonymous woofing on the internet make you a tough guy? That's funny.
Nope, been there, done that, never got hurt, not even my feelings.
I remember how I felt when a person broke into my car and stole a cheap am-fm radio,/ The guy was in a hurry obviously so he reached up behind the radio grabbed the back of it and yanked,. When he yanked he pulled the whole dash part of my car away. it was mostly plastic and it broke the whole dash. Now the radio cost tops $150.00 he probably sold it for $20.00. I was left with a bill for $900.00 for the dashboard of my car and another $150 for a new radio while this azzhole gets $20 bucks worth of dope. If I had of caught the guy right after discovering the damage to my car he would have been lucky to get away with a busted skull. I have no use for thieves and less use for those who feel sympathy for them, and I dont care what color the thieving bastid is. Call it a hate crime if you want I hate thieves. When you take what for granted what I have worked a lifetime to earn I want some justice .
Think about this for a minute, How many cars do you think this bunch has stolen and got away with? This time they got caught. Thank You . I would shake the bat wielders hand.
yeah , it'll be interesting as this unfolds in the coming weeks
They deserve what they got. Black or white. DON'T STEEL
Funniest post of the day:
"They could market the "Howard Beach Diet" show a perp in the hospital with his jaws wired shut only able to eat through a straw
A person could loose a lot of weight in a short time like that.
Then there is the "Howard Beach" excercise plan...show a bunch of fatties running from guys with baseball bats
You might hate jogging but running for your life will give anyone who hates excercise the motivation they need to get out there and run run run...
Pound them pounds....they will melt off
Oh man you're giving me flashbacks. I think most of those numbers are the exact same for me too. I didn't pay to repair much of the damage and my junky truck simply has very little heating ability in the winter due to the damage done. Since my dash was torn apart some other thief finished the job a couple of months later.
If I had of caught the guy right after discovering the damage to my car he would have been lucky to get away with a busted skull. I have no use for thieves and less use for those who feel sympathy for them, and I dont care what color the thieving bastid is. Call it a hate crime if you want I hate thieves. When you take what for granted what I have worked a lifetime to earn I want some justice .
It's infuriating isn't it? I curl up with the bible when I get that mad and get a lot of comfort.
Think about this for a minute, How many cars do you think this bunch has stolen and got away with? This time they got caught. Thank You . I would shake the bat wielders hand.
Not a new thought. This guy that I got busted, it is very obvious that he probably committed hundreds of similar crimes.
Here in Texas it's legal to shoot someone if you catch them trying to steal your property.
You got three coyotes prowling your farm...
The DNR says you have no right to shoot them unless they are caught in the act
So the coyotes naturally wait until you are asleep before they steal into your barn and kill your calves or fowls or raid your chickens..
You know what they are up to, they know what they are up to,...even the steenkin' government knows what they are up to...
So you shoot them when you see them
which should be the end of the problem
Do this enough times and the predators go look someplace else for easier victims
Until you mix politics and let it determine good from bad right from wrong...
But now we have the government protecting the predators and disarming the victims
For crying out loud...even some so called conservatives agree with the government on protecting the bass turds
I read this whole thread , yer's is one of the BEST
Your reference to your "bloodline" in your webpage is interesting. You probably would fit right in an Irish-American neighborhood similar to Howard Beach except for the ethnicity of the residents.
Most people on this forum consider themselves Americans, not hyphenated individuals anyway.
" B. I never got jumped, just responded in a radio car to a few times that the Howard Beach heroes got territorial with other white guys they didn't know. C. Anonymous woofing on the internet make you a tough guy? That's funny."
Naw. What's funny is you're an obvious bigot and either:
A. a cop now, or B. a former cop. Neither of which is funny.
Thanks for the analysis, I feel so much better now.
"Yeah, well, if you walked through Bed-Stuy at 5am, you'd be seriously injured too. So to the South Bronx, so to parts of Harlem...
Nope, been there, done that, never got hurt, not even my feelings."
I guess if your in a uniform or packing a piece, that makes sense.
"They will charge this guy with a hate crime because he probably believes that black people are a bunch of criminals".
"....because he PROBABLY BELIEVES..."
Charged with a hate crime because he 'probably' 'believes'.
Scary. Be charged for thoughts or beliefs. Yep. Scary.
We all know what would happen had the races been reversed.
I'm glad. Now have a few more drinks and take a nap.
DON'T call me in the morning if you have a hang-over.
You think cops would do a damned thing about someone intending to steal a car?
I'm not criticizing cops per se, but car theft is a total non-crime issue. People are barely charged or punished for it any more.
Too bad the potential thief is in serious condition. (I'm sure this was not their first attempt at theft...) Solely because the guy who did it will get a harsher sentence.
"Hate" crime my a**.
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