Another UES Attack Could Play Into Alarming New Stats

Another reported attack on the Upper East Side from Sunday suggests there was possibly a mini crime spree in the fancy neighborhood this past weekend. In this incident, two men jumped 40-year-old Michael Doane on his walk home from the subway across East 84th Street at 3:20 a.m. and left him with two skull fractures and a broken nose. That places the incident just blocks away from the gay-bashing attack on Joseph Holladay almost exactly 24-hours earlier. Police said they were unsure if the new report was a bias crime or even related. A report released today from the the NY Anti-Violence Project showed that there were 12% fewer anti-gay incidents in 2008 versus '07, but their severity worsened as a whole. A spokeswoman said, “While fewer people may be beaten, they are beaten more violently." She also connected motivation for attacks to policies such as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." As for Holladay, he is recovering from the bloody beating and about to return home to Boston.