Queens Gay Bashing Victim Speaks About Crime

Victim Jack Price

The Queens gay man who was nearly beaten to death spoke out about the brutal attack for the first time yesterday. Jack Price, 49, who is still in the hospital recovering from multiple injuries, told the Daily News, "I thought I died. I was bleeding all over the place."

Price, who was recently taken out of his medically-induced coma, was allegedly beaten in College Point, Queens by Daniel Rodriguez, 21, and Daniel Aleman, 26. The pair were apparently captured on video committing the crime; Rodriguez reportedly told Price "My father is a C.O. [correction officer]. You will never do anything to us." Yesterday, Rodriguez's father, the former C.O., attempted to take the blame for his son's actions, saying "I caused him the harm the minute I stopped being a father to my son." However, Rodriguez told detectives "I was angry, cause Jack is disgusting."

Price was on his way home on Oct. 8 when Rodriguez and Aleman followed him, calling him "stupid f-----" in Spanish, not knowing that Price understood what they were saying. They cornered him outside of a bodega and kicked him repeatedly, leaving him to crawl 10 blocks home, where he called the cops. Price said, "I hope they rot in jail. I don't understand how someone can do this to somebody. They almost killed another human being."

Price doesn't know when he will be released from the hospital, but Queens Community House is holding a march today in College Point, rallying at Popenhusen playground to "protest homophobia and celebrate diversity."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in News on October 17, 2009 2:00 PM

Comments [rss]

sexisicilian

I hope Mr. Price gets well soon:)

potsmoker

i wish him well. i feel sorry for those two dopes who threw years of their life away.

but really folks if it was a bar brawl between frat boys it would not be news, dont confuse a good security video with news.

comment outrage and consensus empathy is not exactly how humanity is going to progress.

before the internet you had to see something on the news and go bring your teddy bear to the site of the girl stuck in the well, but the reality is some little girl was already sick and dying in your local hospital and you didnt think for a minute to get a teddy bear over there, only for the girl on the news.

that comment was written in correctly, i meant theres some bashing, mugging, beatdowns, robberies, fights, vile nypost comments about any specific group & insults directed at people everyday in nyc. you only care about whats on the news

solution make love stop commenting.

schizofriendly

make love, stop commenting

That really is a good idea, isn't it?

sexisicilian

Ditto:)

potsmoker

gay bashing is wrong only when muslim bashing is.

if this guy was beaten for being muslim the ny post would give those two a medal.

sowhtifithppnsitwll

keep smoking

Chris

Sadly this kind of violence committed against members of the LGBT community is all too common. Hopefully Mr. Price will recover fully and his attackers will enjoy a few years as prison wives to particularly aggressive fellow inmates.

helenholli

The fact that this much hatred exists makes me tremendously sad. I wish Mr. Price a full and speedy recovery.

oprice

I can't believe such "gay bashing" is still happening. Are we back in 1970?

Ritchie

it's so deeply depressing that people still think this way. ANd imagine having to crawl home after this.

Esquire, M.D.

"I was angry, cause Jack is disgusting."

This guy is the one who's disgusting. How can he still sound so unrepentant after the consequences of his actions?

Wish

It's absolutely appalling.

I can't believe that this still occurs in this day in age, in New York no less.

i, too, wish mr. price a speedy recovery

Spirit of 76

I believe it. Human nature is a stubborn thing. It changes at a glacial pace, and I don't mean glaciers melting under climate change. Maybe in a couple of thousand years, this might be a rarity. But I still wouldn't place any bets on that.

JZ-man

It's amazing how people can be so hateful towards someone only because they don't like the same things as they do. It's not like Price did anything wrong to them.