Man Beaten, Nose Broken In Upper East Side Anti-Gay Hate Attack: NYPD

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Police are looking for a man who screamed homophobic epithets at a stranger and then beating him in an anti-gay hate crime last week, police said, leaving the victim with a broken nose.

Officials said the victim, a 21-year-old man, was walking near a grocery store on First Avenue near East 81st Street on June 12 at 3 a.m. when a stranger approached him.

Suddenly, the older, bald stranger started hurling anti-gay comments at the victim, and continued to do so while he beat the young man multiple times with his fist, leaving the victim with a fractured nose, facial injuries and a black eye, police said.

The victim got himself to Lenox Hill Hospital where he was treated for his injuries, police said.

The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the attack.

Police say the attacker was a man wearing a black t-shirt, black pants, dark brown boots and a black book bag.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).