Earlier today 22-year-old Daniel Rodriguez Jr. pleaded guilty to beating and robbing Jack Price specifically because he is openly gay. He admitted to taunting Price with gay slurs before beating him up, leaving him in a medically-induced coma, and taking his cash. However, Rodriguez's father seems to have still not come to terms with his sons misdeeds. He told the Post, "This incident came about because of an argument over some kind of writing of graffiti on the wall of the deli. I’d like to apologize to Jack Price and his family, but this didn’t happen because he was gay...and [Price] knows that."
Daniel Rodriguez Sr. has previously taken responsibility for his son's behavior, telling the press, "I caused him the harm the minute I stopped being a father to my son. I hurt him." Rodriguez Jr. allegedly told Price on the night of the beating, "My father is a C.O. [correction officer]. You will never do anything to us." A commenter told us that Rodriguez Jr. had found Price writing graffiti "offering gay sexual acts" at a College Point deli, but Price insists he did nothing to provoke the attack. Daniel Aleman pleaded guilty to robbery as a hate crime last week, and both men face up to eight years in prison.
