Police Imply Anti-Gay
Bias in Attack
on Brooklyn Man
By JENNIFER 8. LEE
and COLIN MOYNIHAN, NYTimes on the Web, June 11, 2005
New York City -- A 26-year-old
Brooklyn man was attacked late Wednesday in Brownsville, Brooklyn, by three men
who were yelling anti-gay slurs, the police said.
The victim, Dwan Prince, was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he remained
unconscious in serious but stable condition last night, the police said.
No arrests had been made.
The police said that according to witnesses, three men in a black BMW drove to
Kings Highway and East 94th Street near the six-story red brick building where
Mr. Prince lived and worked, according to the police.
Mr. Prince was taking trash out of the building shortly before midnight when the
men ran from the car and attacked him, kicking and punching him repeatedly, the
police said.
Because it was dark, the witnesses were not sure at first what the men were
doing, the police said. As they approached, they saw Mr. Prince lying on
the ground.
"They were hitting him and kicking him; the works," said one man who witnessed
the incident but did not want to give his name for fear of reprisal from the
attackers. His account was corroborated by other witnesses and the police.
One attacker seemed to take the lead, the witness said, adding: "The guy
was ruthless. I could see it in his eyes."
The witnesses tried to scare off the attackers, even offering to fight in Mr.
Prince's defense.
"We tried to help him up," the witness said, but the attackers came back.
When asked why they had attacked Mr. Prince, one of the men yelled an anti-gay
epithet and kicked Mr. Prince in the head before rushing off, the police and the
witness said.
Mr. Prince was not moving or breathing, the witness said. They could not
feel a heartbeat so they started to hit Mr. Prince in the chest.
"I wanted to keep some vibration in there," the witness said.
Then a woman came along with a gallon of water to wash the blood off Mr.
Prince's face, which had been cut by the kicking.
Mr. Prince's neighbors described him as a friendly and trusting man.
"I'm praying for him," said Malika Brown, 23, who lives in the same building.
Mr. Prince had recently started work as a porter in his building after
voluntarily taking out trash, cutting the lawn and performing other duties for
the building. "He's very good," said the building superintendent, Anthony
Davidson, 43, who recently gave Mr. Prince the porter job.
When the elevator in the building was out of service, Mr. Prince posted signs on
each floor that explained why the elevator was broken and what was being done to
fix it, Mr. Davidson said, adding, "He tries to please everyone."
Neighbors said that Mr. Prince used his own credit rating to set up cell phone
accounts for friends, and that he would give his own rent money to members of
his family who needed it. Mr. Davidson said that Mr. Prince once lent his
cell phone to a man at the bus stop, who then ran off with the phone.
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