NYPD Investigates Antigay Attack

The New York City Police Department is investigating an antigay attack that took place early Saturday in Manhattan, while the victims maintain that the responding officers acted inappropriately by refusing to take a report at the scene.

Local radio personality Blake Hayes and two male friends said they were walking along Ninth Avenue at 51st Street in Hell's Kitchen when a patron standing outside McCoy's bar threw a lit cigarette butt at one of them and said, "Keep moving, faggot."

The encounter escalated until the assailant shoved Hayes, threw one friend into a car parked nearby with enough force to dent it, and punched the other in the face. A bouncer for the bar then stepped in to stop the attack.

Although police officers responded promptly, they refused to file a report, according to Hayes and his friends, or take any steps that showed they took the complaint seriously.

"It seemed like every step of the way they had already decided they were just going to leave and it wasn't a big enough deal for them to stay," Hayes told WABC-TV Channel 7 on Monday.

The NYPD's hate-crimes task force is investigating the incident now, without the benefit of information such as the assailant's name and other details that may have been obtained had they taken an initial report.