Anti-gay beating investigated

Four attackers may have mistaken two brothers walking arm in arm as gay before using an aluminum baseball bat, a bottle and their feet to beat one of them into critical condition, New York City police said Monday.

One of the attackers used an anti-gay slur when first confronting the brothers, Ecuadorean immigrants who were walking down a Brooklyn street early Sunday after a night of drinking.
"For some reason they didn't like the two men they believed were gay ... and felt so emboldened in their hatred that they acted it out in violence," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Police said the attack occurred around 3:30 a.m. Sunday as the brothers neared their home on foot. One attacker jumped out of the SUV, used the anti-gay slur and smashed one of the brothers over the head with a bottle.

As the other brother ran away, three men exited the vehicle and joined the assault, police said. One hit the victim in the head with the bat while the others kicked him.

At some point, the other brother returned holding a cell phone and told the men he had called police. They then drove off together.

The 31-year-old victim remained hospitalized Monday in critical condition, said police, who did not release his name or that of his brother.

The office of Brooklyn prosecutor Charles Hynes and the New York Police Department's Hate Crime Task Force were investigating. They urged the public to help identify the attackers.