Police: Straight Man Victim of Alleged Anti-Gay NYC Attack
A man from New York City says he was attacked last week when he was walking his dogs near his apartment. Though he identifies as straight, authorities are reportedly investigating the incident as a hate crime, according to NY1.
David Jimenez, 40, who lives in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, says he heard a group of people yelling anti-gay slurs at him while he was walking his dogs about a block away from his apartment last Wednesday night. Though he ignored the group's verbal assault, he was still physically attacked.
"The next thing I know I have a person behind me," Jimenez told CBS New York. "I turn around, and the first thing I feel is a punch in my face." He also told the Brooklyn Paper that his attackers called him a "faggot."
According to CBS New York, witnesses who saw the attack called 911 and police arrested the man who allegedly attacked him. Jimenez says he doesn't know anything about the man except that he's 35 years old.
"What the cops told me that night when I was in the ambulance [was] that he was at a funeral and he was very upset," Jimenez told the news station. "I'm sorry for him, but that is no reason to attack someone like this."
Jimenez doesn't remember much else about the attack, but suffered a broken nose, a fractured eye socket, two black eyes and a swollen jaw. On Wednesday he will undergo surgery for his nose and eye socket.
As NY1 reports, police are investigating the alleged attack as a hate crime even though Jimenez identifies as straight.
He told CBS New York that the "most difficult part" of his recovery will be "waking up every morning and trying to live my life like normal."
The suspect who allegedly attacked Jimenez was charged with assault, criminal possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest. Jimenez says he hopes his attacker is charged with a hate crime.
New York City has seen a spike in anti-gay attacks over the summer. Gay men and same-sex couples were attacked in some of the metropolis' most LGBT-friendly neighborhoods, like Chelsea.