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.
Interesting how the title could easily have been "Car Thieves beaten in Queens neighborhood."
Yeah, I don't get this... these guys were going to steal a car, a local beat the crap out of them, and it's somehow a "hate crime"?
Just matter of factly, "to steal a car." These idiots at AP might want to revisit that one. This is talk radio fodder that even the "racist" perjorative cannot squelch.
Sorry, but if these guys looked out of place or suspicious, the police should have been alerted. It looks to me like they just happened to be up to no good when they were attacked, but hadn't started yet. If they were attacked because they were in the act of stealing a car, that's one thing, but if they were attacked because they were black guys in a white neighborhood, that's assault.
I don't believe in prosecuting hate crimes. I just say they were attacked for no reason and leave it at that. That's bad enough.
Thank God there are Hate Crime laws now to tack onto the "charges of manslaughter, assault, conspiracy and rioting."
Notice the implicit assignment of moral equivalency to attacking stranded motorists and attacking admitted car thieves.
Also note the black attackers were not convicted of "hate crimes," although the article doesn't state whether they were initially charged with such.
Liberal logic.
Disregard previous post. Misread the article.
Clarification: I said I don't believe in prosecuting hate crimes. I meant I don't believe in classifying a crime as a hate crime. It should be prosecuted as assault and battery. "Why" is pointless.
Too bad the gun laws are so strict there.
Precisely!
The Hate Crimes Laws are nothing more than the implementation of the Values set forth in the European Socialist Manefesto. They undermine our Gurantee of Freedom of Speech by the Constitution. The Hate Crimes were put into law to do just that. We have the right to Hate just as we have the right to Love. The Constitution of the United States is slowly but surely being replaced with the Socialist Version of the European Constitution, read it for yourself:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1318061/posts?page=6#6
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1318038/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1318034/posts
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=view&id=954
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1254190/posts
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he and the police commissioner would not allow such "an ugly incident" to divide the city
Un-freaking-believable
It's not the ugly incident that is dividing the city - it's the day in day out never ending (that is their only job) crime that is dividing the city.
I hate crime. Can I be charged for it?
Only a crime for a white.
That's what racism is, a white crime. No one else can be guilty of it.
Sarcasm/
Oh good Lord. So if this was three white guys beaten in a black neighborhood, you wouldn't be reading this right now. We all know it, too.
I'm glad they got their butts handed to 'em.
Looks to me they went into another neighborhood looking for a problem and got what they were looking for.
The SUV guy probably had a cell phone and could have called the cops.
And that is the only angle to this story! There's no mention if the car theives were even charged. Does the AP really think people are going to be outraged by this? WTF?!?!
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