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Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company

The New York Times

April 5, 1998, Sunday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section 14; Page 7; Column 3; The City Weekly Desk

LENGTH: 429 words

HEADLINE: NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: CHELSEA;

Group Asks Why 2 Similar Attacks Are Defined Differently

BYLINE: By DAVID KIRBY

BODY:

The debate over what constitutes a hate crime is heating up since two recent attacks against gay men in Manhattan. Although anti-gay slurs were used in both incidents, one is being treated as a possible bias case and one is not.

The widely reported stabbing of a gay man on Wednesday morning in the West Village will be investigated by the police bias unit. The police said Colin Brown, 22, was stabbed by Robert Cockrel, 18, during a scuffle that began when Mr. Brown heard the suspect's younger sister use the word "faggot." Mr. Brown was hospitalized with a punctured liver.

But an assault on Feb. 8 in Chelsea was not classified as bias, though the same language was used. In that incident, Dennis Beauchemin, 41, was walking home from a local gay bar with a friend at 4:30 A.M. when a van ran a red light at 10th Avenue and 23d Street, nearly hitting them.

"I said something like, 'Hey, watch it!' " and we walked away," Mr. Beauchemin said. But the van, with three men inside, followed them. "The door opened and they started yelling 'faggots' and throwing bottles at us," Mr. Beauchemin said.

He fled toward his apartment on West 25th Street, thinking his friend was right behind him, but at his building, he realized his friend was not there and went looking for him. "Then I saw the van coming around the corner," he said.

Two men grabbed Mr. Beauchemin. "One guy said, 'I'll get you, faggot!' and smashed a full beer bottle in my head," he said. "Then they started kicking me." The bottle crushed his brow and part of his cheekbone, and he lost his left eye.

Mr. Beauchemin said he cannot undergo reconstructive surgery because he is H.I.V.-positive and his white-blood-cell count is too low.

The police did not classify the attack as a bias crime because it began as a traffic argument. But advocates for gay causes say bias is a question of whether, not when, hatred is expressed.

"The patrol guidebook says any crime motivated in whole or in part by bias is a bias crime," said Christine Quinn, executive director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. "We have to clarify that with the police." She said both attacks arose from "homophobic attitudes."

"Take away the victims' perceived sexual orientation," she said, "and there's little to indicate the perpetrators would've acted so violently."

Ms. Quinn's group is organizing a march on Wednesday from Christopher Street to West 25th Street to call for a change in guidelines.

The Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. DAVID KIRBY

 

GRAPHIC: Photo: Dennis Beauchemin lost his left eye after an assault with a bottle. (Jack Manning/The New York Times)

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: April 5, 1998

 

 

 

 

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The New York Times Company  

The New York Times

April 2, 1998, Thursday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section B; Page 3; Column 1; Metropolitan Desk 

LENGTH: 832 words

HEADLINE: Bias as Motive Is Disputed In West Village Stabbing

BYLINE:  By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI 

BODY:

   An anti-gay remark uttered in a conversation among three Queens teen-agers in the West Village early yesterday led to a fistfight and stabbing that left a man hospitalized, the police said.

The incident, which began shortly after 1 A.M. outside Two Potato, a bar on the corner of Greenwich Street and Christopher Street, was classified as a possible bias crime, said Capt. Barbara Sicilia. But Captain Sicilia, commander of the Police Department's bias unit, emphasized that the incident did not appear to be a "gay-bashing" attack.

The Queens teen-agers apparently went to the Village to enjoy the social scene along the piers during one of the first balmy nights of the year, the police said, and became embroiled in a fight when Colin Brown, 22, overheard one of the teenagers use the word "faggot." Mr. Brown, who lives in New Jersey, was standing with friends outside the bar when he confronted the 14-year-old girl who made the remark, the police said. Her brother, Robert Cockrel, 18, rushed to her defense.

After an exchange of punches -- it was not clear who attacked whom first -- Mr. Cockrel pulled out a paring knife and stabbed Mr. Brown once in the chest, the police said.

"An anti-gay remark is made, just in passing," the captain said at a news conference. "The victim took offense to it, and had some words about 'what are you doing here?' "

"The male, who did not make the anti-gay remark, defends the female," Captain Sicilia continued. "A fight ensues, a knife came out. That is why I'm saying the motivation is not a strong bias attack."

Doctors at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center performed emergency surgery to treat a wound to Mr. Brown's liver, the police said, and last night his condition was upgraded from critical to stable.

The police quickly arrested Mr. Cockrel, his sister and their companion, but would not release the identities of the two teen-age girls because they are juveniles.

Despite those speedy arrests, people who work against bias-related violence angrily denounced the Police Department's characterization of the case, saying that investigators were "re-victimizing" Mr. Brown by attempting to draw a distinction between yesterday's incident and previous bias attacks.

"The N.Y.P.D. repeatedly sets the bar for the definition of what is bias at a level which is absurd and is not realistic or connected to the manner in which crimes are actually perpetrated," Christine Quinn, executive director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, said. "It seems to us that you need to have somebody carve 'faggot' across your forehead and then carve 'I did it because I hate faggots' across your stomach for the police to think it is bias related. Crimes do not happen this way."

Mr. Cockrel, his sister and their companion were arrested on state charges of assault and possession of a weapon, and if the incident is ultimately classified a bias crime they could be subject to additional Federal prosecution on charges of violating Mr. Brown's civil rights, Captain Sicilia said.

In the West Village, a neighborhood with a large gay population, some residents said they were uncertain whether the incident should qualify as a bias attack.

Steve Robison, 38, watched the incident from across the street and then saw Mr. Brown collapse onto a bucket of red tulips at a street corner flower shop.

"I don't think it's a bias incident, it's just words back and forth," said Mr. Robison, who works at Landmark, a gay bookstore on Christopher Street. "We see that a lot in this neighborhood: people yell 'faggot,' they get mad, and they're probably just different sets of the same life style."

In Mr. Cockrel's neighborhood, Springfield Gardens, Queens, his friends and relatives said that they were shocked to hear him accused of any crime of violence. Since last summer, Mr. Cockrel has lived with his grandparents, who described him as an even-tempered teen-ager who was still recovering from his mother's death last year.

His grandfather, Walker Brown, said Mr. Cockrel called him yesterday afternoon from jail and insisted he had acted in self-defense.

"He told me some guys were picking on his sister," said Mr. Brown, a maintenance worker for the city's Parks Department. "They wouldn't leave her alone. They wanted to jump him. He defended himself."

Mr. Cockrel's friends described him as a tolerant person who mixed easily with people of different sexual orientations. Xavier Green, who was planning to take Mr. Cockrel to Kennedy International Airport yesterday to apply for a job as a skycap, said he and Mr. Cockrel used to socialize in Greenwich Village precisely because its streets bustled with such an ostentatious mix of different life styles.

"He didn't hate gays," said Mr. Green, who described himself as bisexual. "I respected him, he respected me. He never said a slur, nothing. That wasn't him. We liked to hang out in the Village, on Christopher Street, to see the sights."

 

GRAPHIC: Photo: Robert Cockrel, center, was arrested yesterday on assault and weapon possession charges after a fistfight and stabbing in the West Village. (William Lopez for The New York Times)

 

Map/Chart: "HOW IT HAPPENED: Stabbing on Christopher Street"

Yesterday morning's stabbing in Greenwich Village occurred after an anti-gay comment was overheard by Colin Brown. Here is a reconstruction of the assault, based on police reports.

 

1. About 1:15 A.M., near the Two Potato Bar, Mr. Brown overhears an anti-gay slur by one of three teen-agers. An argument begins.

 

2. A fistfight starts. According to the police, one of the teen-agers, Robert Cockrel, pulls out a knife and stabs Mr. Brown, who then runs up Hudson Street and collapses.

 

3. Two of the teen-agers are immediately caught. Mr. Cockrel is found in a West 10th Street stairwell about two hours later.

 

(Source: Police and witnesses)

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: April 2, 1998

 

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Copyright 1998 Daily News, L.P.  

Daily News (New York)

April 02, 1998, Thursday

SECTION: News; Pg. 18

LENGTH: 341 words

HEADLINE: MAN, 21, KNIFED ON VILLAGE STREET

BYLINE: By MIKE CLAFFEY and DAVE GOLDINER

BODY:

 

A New Jersey man was chased down and stabbed in the stomach early yesterday morning on a West Village street, allegedly by three Queens teenagers shouting anti-gay epithets.

"What are you doing on this corner, f----t," the attackers reportedly shouted during the attack on Christopher St., according to accounts provided by gay-rights activists and police sources.

The 21-year-old victim, who was not identified by police, was walking in the Village with another man when they were approached by a man and two girls just after 1 a.m.

The two groups started arguing after one of the girls allegedly taunted the 21-year-old with an anti-gay insult.

Robert Cockrel, 18, of Queens took a swing at the victim, police said. Then the victim swung back at him, police said.

"That's when the knife came out," said Capt. Barbara Cicilia of the police bias crime unit, adding that police do not know if the victim is gay.

The three suspects chased the victim and the other man for several blocks before catching up to him, police said. Cockrel stabbed the victim in front of a deli and a flower shop, police said.

The victim was taken to St. Vincent's Medical Center, where he was listed in serious but stable condition.

Cockrel was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon, as were Latoya Simmons, 15, and Nedra Payne, 14.

Police found the two girls within minutes of the attack, and later discovered Cockrel in the lobby of a nearby apartment house. A hunting knife was found nearby, police said.

The teens said they went to the Village to have fun on a warm night, and that the attack was not planned in advance, according to police.

Gay-rights activists denounced the attack, calling it the latest evidence of a disturbing rise in anti-gay violence. NYPD statistics show bias crimes against gays increased 14% last year.

Activists announced plans for a march Wednesday from Sheridan Square to W. 26th St., the site of another recent alleged gay bashing, which left a victim blind in one eye.

LOAD-DATE: April 02, 1998

 

 

 

 

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