Second Man in Custody for Gay Bashing in Queens

An update on the horrifying gay bashing here in New York City:

Via NYT: A second man was arrested on Tuesday in connection with a brutal attack in Queens last week that left a gay man hospitalized, the police said. The victim, Jack Price, 49, above, was harassed and assaulted by two men early Friday morning as he was leaving a deli in College Point. During the attack, which was captured on video, Price was pelted with anti-gay comments and pummeled to the ground, leaving him with a broken jaw, fractured ribs and a lacerated spleen, the police said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested one of the suspects, Daniel Rodriguez, 21, in Norfolk, Va. Officials announced on Wednesday that he would be extradited to New York. Another man, Daniel Aleman, 26, was arrested over the weekend and is facing charges of assault and aggravated assault as a hate crime.

The attack has prompted condemnation by local leaders. Led by the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, a Manhattan Democrat who is openly gay, city and state officials gathered in front of Booth Memorial Hospital on Monday to denounce the attack, which they called a hate crime.

The news “smacked particularly hard,” said Quinn, who had just come back to New York after joining gay rights supporters on Sunday in the National Equality March on Washington. “You grow tired of doing these press conferences,” said Quinn. She added that “crimes like this are very sad” and that “these two hateful, ignorant individuals represent a minority of New Yorkers.”