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Hundreds Rally Against Brutal Queens Hate Crime, Suspect's Friends Still Defend Him
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 18, 2009
Modified Oct 18, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 18, 2009
Modified Oct 18, 2009
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Yesterday, hundreds of people gathered in College Point, Queens to protest the brutal attack that left a 49-year-old gay man clinging to life. Jack Price had been walking home on October 8 when he was savagely beaten—broken jaw, broken ribs, collapsed lung— by two men who called him gay slurs. Price's brother told the Daily News, "Nobody should have to worry about looking behind their backs. Parents have to teach their kids. They learn hatred and all that stuff at home."
Price recently emerged from his medically induced coma and spoke for the first time, saying, "I thought I died. I was bleeding all over the place." Based on the harrowing surveillance footage, police have arrested two suspects, Daniel Aleman, 26, and Daniel Rodriguez, Jr., 21, and their supporters were watching the parade. A 15-year-old friend of Rodriguez's said, "This whole rally is so pathetic. I don't think this is a hate crime because he doesn't have nothing against gay people."
Well, another friend of Rodriguez's spoke to WABC 7 last week (video below), essentially saying that Price deserved to be be beaten up because he allegedly propositioned Rodriguez and blew him a kiss, "I mean, I don't want no man blowing me a kiss either. Things happen. I been beat up too, but you don't see me and my family on news crying...Wounds heal." The friend also showed off his Leviticus 18:22 tattoo: "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."
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Daniel Aleman
daniel rodriguez
hate crime
jack price
queens
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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