Victims Of Alleged Queens Beating Say It May Have Been Racially Motivated

By: Jon Weinstein

The New York City Police Department's Hate Crimes unit is investigating an alleged beating in Queens that the victims say may have been racially motivated. NY1's Jon Weinstein filed the following report.

It was supposed to be a happy occasion. Billie and Jacob James-Vogel were celebrating her 40th birthday early Saturday morning, but at around 1:30 a.m., however, things went terribly wrong.

As they left Shi restaurant with a gay friend, they said that three men attacked them, screaming racial and homophobic slurs.

"When I think about the slurs, the N-word and the F-word, it hurts. It hurts. It hurts." Billie James-Vogel said. "It breaks my heart."

The injuries were more than just emotional. Jacob said he was repeatedly bashed, hit in the face and tossed to the ground.

Read more at http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/187337/victims-of-alleged-queens-beating-say-it-may-have-been-racially-motivated