Hate Crime Unit Investigating Straight Teen "Gay Bashing"

Victim Anthony Coallo

Four teenagers have been arraigned on charges of manslaughter and gang assault after allegedly beating 18-year-old Anthony Coallo to death outside a Woodhaven party on Saturday, all while yelling anti-gay slurs, even though Coallo's friends said he was not gay. Now, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly says the incident, "appears to have all the elements of a hate crime and now a hate crime homicide." Police have also arrested a fifth suspect, who has been charged with manslaughter and assault as hate crimes.

According to the criminal complaint, one assailant was armed with a metal bat and another with a cane when they confronted Coallo. Coallo was leaving the party when one of the attackers allegedly yelled, "get the f--k out of the front, this is my hood," and chased Coallo down the street. Witness Erol Bal told NY1, "I was in bed and I heard a lot of raucous outside, a lot of kids running around knocking on trash cans and breaking glass...Then I started hearing a lot of cursing, a lot of, 'Get that mother f----r' and hearing a lot of complaints like that. Basically I heard a lot of shouting. I looked outside the window and saw a group of individuals through the window basically pretty much attacking the gentleman. I didn't get a good look at anyone. I wound up calling the police."

The criminal complaint reportedly does not make mention of anti-gay slurs, though witnesses say the party-crashing teens were making homophobic remarks and scrawling slurs on the house's walls. Police are still unsure of the gang's motives. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said in a statement, “My Council colleagues and I are saddened and disturbed by this outrageous attack. We celebrate diversity in New York City, we do not tolerate bias attacks in any neighborhood in Queens or anywhere else in our great City." Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer added, "Verbally and physically attacking people based on their sexual orientation or their perceived sexual orientation is a crime against all people and we must fight to end this cycle of hate once and for all."

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

By Jaya Saxena in News on March 16, 2011 2:17 PM

Comments [rss]

Courtney Dolloff Eliseo

Wow, you are really making a case for your intelligence. It's one thing to have an opposing opinion. But speaking so aggressively and excessively using ridiculous slang terms like "LibTARD" completely discredits any valid point you might have.

handsomedevil

I suspect she thinks it will actually upset people. It's become a cliche faster that you can say "ditto, Rush!"

John Winskowicz

@PaulaNYC

I think you're a little confused about the purpose of hate crimes.

No one is saying that the murder of a person (and I think you should keep that in mind when formulating any response...this man was murdered) is more or less important based upon their sexual orientation (or race, religion, gender etc). What a hate crime does is punish a person for not only the crime itself (assault, homicide etc), but also the halo effect of the crime.

When a person is attacked because of their orientation (or race etc), it's a scary, frightening message sent to the rest of the people within that community. This is where the crime escalates to "hate crime" status. The crime not only affects the individual, but has a societal impact, as well.

PaulaNYC

Up yours, LibTard. Do you understand the nature of the CONSTITUTION??? Do you understand about EQUAL protection of the laws???

Too damn bad if "GAY PEOPLE" feel threatened. I feel damn threatened when I walk from the 8th Avenue Line to the Broadway local at Times Square and there are "urban youths" following behind making smack noises and saying how much they'd like to fuck me.

The problem with LibTARDS like you is that you make policy decisions based on your political constituencies --- gays, women, labor, etc. (Is it a "hate crme" when a criminal shoots a cop dead and says, "Fuck you, cop!"? No, guess not...they're not a "protected class" in LibTARD land.)

Take your "special people" and your "special class communities" and shove them up your ass.

Guest

Stop your cursing you lowlife it only shows your ignorance.

Guest

PaulaTard PaulaTard PaulaTard PaulaTard PaulaTard PaulaTard PaulaTard PaulaTard. Kind of has a nice ring to it.

Guest

Paul(a) is hallucinating again. Maybe they said they want to F**K you up!

handsomedevil

Do you understand about EQUAL protection of the laws???

It is equal protection. Hate crime laws protect all people from being targeted on the basis of their race, religion, sexuality, whatever.

If you think there are situations where the law is not applied but should be, that's a different complaint.

What's funny to me is that we have hundreds of other "special" categories of crime that don't draw the attention of simple-minded "equality" fans. Like this one:

Is it a "hate crme" when a criminal shoots a cop dead and says, "Fuck you, cop!"? No, guess not...they're not a "protected class" in LibTARD land.

120.08 Assault on a peace officer, police officer, fireman or
emergency medical services professional.

It's a class C felony. I really thought everybody knew about that.

John Winskowicz

You're absolutely right. Everyone deserves equal protection under the law.

Fortunately, that's what is provided in this case. The person that is receiving "extra" punishment, so to speak, is the perpetrator. Whether or not he attacked a person who is gay, black, Christian or whatever, he is still being punished for the crime, right? It's just the crime is now being labeled as a "hate crime" because of the halo effect of his actions.

You can't argue that some people are more at risk in this country than others when it comes to crime. That's the purpose of the hat crime legislation, to help protect those people. You yourself said how you feel victimized in certain areas of the city because you are a woman. If that verbal harassment escalated (let's hope it doesn't) into physical, you would be protected under the law. Regardless of whether it traces back to hate crime legislation or not, you would still have protection.

robingee

This "Paula" person is not real. No point in even responding to it.

PaulaNYC

By all means. A crime against a gay person is WAAAAAAAAY more important than regular, you know, "crime". EVERY police resource should be used to prosecute the alleged killers.

In fact, since GAY people deserve special privileges because they're mostly reliable liberals (like bikers), there must be some SPECIAL punishment we can inflict on the alleged killers.

Does anyone know if the decease was a Republican? That would be an easier prosecution, because, in that case, he would have deserved whatever he got. (Like that horrible Clarence Thomas deserves to be lynched.)

That's how justice works in LbTard Land.

Guest

You are so fckd in the head.

heresyourcopy

they've done it before: http://gothamist.com/2010/06/2... whatever they do i hope they nail these idiots.

Guest

"Verbally and physically attacking people based on their sexual orientation or their perceived sexual orientation is a crime against all people and we must fight to end this cycle of hate once and for all."

Physically, yes. Verbally, not so much. Plus, if they were screaming 'motherfucker', then they must hate those who fuck mothers (a sexual orientation if I ever heard one). We most protect motherfuckers at all costs. Prosecute and fry them.