Posted on 06/30/2005 4:56:10 AM PDT by Abathar
NEW YORK (AP) - Three black men who ventured into a historically white neighborhood early Wednesday to steal a car were chased by a man with a baseball bat, police said. One man was beaten and suffered a fractured skull.
The attack happened several hours before dawn in the same section of the borough of Queens as an infamous 1986 beating of three black men whose car had broken down.
In Wednesday's attack, Nicholas Minucci, 21, was being charged with first-degree assault as a hate crime, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a news conference.
The three blacks told investigators they had been looking for a car to steal when they entered the Howard Beach neighborhood. They told police a white man in an SUV passed them in the street, exchanged stares with them and then returned with two friends and a baseball bat before chasing them on foot.
Glen Moore, 20, stumbled to the ground and was beaten, suffering a fractured skull. He was in serious condition. The other two men escaped and summoned police, who scouted the neighborhood with them and spotted the SUV again.
Police stopped the vehicle and found the bat inside. The driver was arrested, and officers were seeking two other suspects.
The hate crime charge is punishable by a minimum of eight years in prison. The district attorney said that he didn't know if Minucci had a lawyer and that he would be arraigned Thursday.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he and the police commissioner would not allow such "an ugly incident" to divide the city.
"We've accomplished too much to let that happen," he said, noting that the area had been free of such crimes for at least two years.
On Dec. 20, 1986, a group of white teenagers attacked three black men who were stranded in the neighborhood when their car stalled.
One of the men was fatally struck by a car as he fled. Another was beaten with a baseball bat and tree branches. The third escaped.
The attack ignited racial tension in New York and was compared to a lynching by then-Mayor Ed Koch. Eight of the teenagers were convicted or pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter, assault, conspiracy and rioting.
Why is it wrong? Some car thieves got beaten. I regard that as a good thing.
The fact that guido went to get a couple of friends before jumping these guys makes it pre-meditated.
Howard Beach has changed in complexion since the 80s but the new-comers are not black. The prototypical guido-hitter mentality is still there (obviously) but this blatant action surprises me.
Notice how the title of this article automatically make the back men the victims? Here, let me rewrite the title as it should be:
"Government Declares War on Black Crime: 7% of the Population Commits 60% of The Violent Rapes, Robberies and Murders....Law Abiding Citizens Fed Up"
You have admitted car thieves giving their side of the story but we don't hear the accused's side.
Watch.
This will go to court. The facts will be laid out and the kid will be acquitted.
Then there'll be a riot because all people will remember is the BS printed from the AP.
"Three black men who ventured into a historically white neighborhood early Wednesday to steal a car..."
And the point?
Without a doubt Mayor Blooming-idiot is a hopeless panderer.
I'm sure the three black Car Thieves backed down when this kid came at them with a bat.
[[The Hate Crimes Laws are nothing more than the implementation of the Values set forth in the European Socialist Manefesto. They undermine our Gurantee of Freedom of Speech by the Constitution.]]
Hate crimes laws are designed only to silence the white majority population.
I'm with you. Unless the black guys were actually committing a crime, what we have here is a senseless assault (not a hate crime, just a senseless assault). They'd have gotten off easier if a car was actually being stolen.
Well, not pointless -- it should be mentioned by a prosecutor during trial as (part of) motive, and during sentencing when determining the likelihood for rehabilitation. However, I do agree that there shouldn't be separate charges or extra penalties for "hate crimes".
"Yeah, I don't get this... "
Next time you hear the NAACP call for a 'hate crime' law you will understand what that means. The idea is that some crimes are politically correct(mainly those ones against you) and some are not.
Wonder what the rap sheet looks like on the perps?
Criminal possession of a weapon? Since when is possessing a baseball bat criminal? Why don't they go arrest the NY Yankees while they're at it?
In other words, this lowlife scumbag criminal Minucci assaulted another lowlife scumbag criminal.
Watch this turn into a citywide days of rage with the Reverend Al Sharpton leading a Million Car Thief March.
Since someone used it to attack another person. Then it becomes a weapon.
They should be brining up the other 2 thieves on Good Samaritan laws.
The kid had a bat, not an Uzi.
Pussies.
How do you know they were not in the process of stealing a car?
Even in the bible where the laws are much more conservative, someone has to be on your property for you to be able to go thrash him. You don't get to go out on patrol. Even the cops aren't at liberty to thrash people when they actually ARE on patrol.
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