CRIME
Cop Admits Weak NYPD Effort in Black Gay Man’s Assault In 2013 alleged Hasidic patrol attack in Williamsburg, case closed in 65 minutes
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BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
iving credence to allegations that police initially made little effort to investigate a brutal attack on a black gay man in Williamsburg, the detective in the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force who took over the case six days after the assault said he received a single report from the local precinct when he began his investigation. “I think it was just a single interview,” Eric Sanchez, the lead detective, said during trial testimony in Brooklyn Supreme Court on August 30 when asked about any contact with witnesses early in the investigation. Taj Patterson, now 25, was assaulted in the Brooklyn neighborhood early in the morning on December 1, 2013 allegedly by members of a community patrol organized the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community that dominates a portion of Williamsburg. He suffered a broken eye socket, bruises, abrasions, and was left blind in one eye. The single interview was with Patterson. Pinchas Braver and Abraham Winkler pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment in the attack. Charges against Aharon Hollender and Joseph Fried were dropped. Mayer Herskovic refused a deal, and his trial began on
August 29. He faces multiple counts of unlawful imprisonment, assault, gang assault, and menacing. In June of this year, Patterson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, three of the police officers who were involved in the initial investigation, the five men who were charged and a sixth man, the Williamsburg Safety Patrol, and the Shmira Volunteer Patrol. In the lawsuit, Patterson charged that the city and the police department have long privileged these patrols and this community. The initial investigation is just one more example. “The defendant officers personally participated in the decision not to pursue an investigation into crimes committed against [Patterson], based solely upon the races, religions, and sexual preferences of [Patterson] and other defendants,” the federal complaint charges. A day after the assault, Patterson obtained a police record called a 61 that showed the investigation had been closed about an hour after the attack, which occurred at roughly 4:40 a.m. The 61 is dated December 1, 2013 and is time stamped 5:45 a.m. It says “CLOSED” under “Case Status.” The record lists names and contact information for four witnesses to the assault and gives the license plate numbers for two cars that the assailants used to leave the scene. The attack was
Taj Patterson, after suffering an assault by a gang of men in Williamsburg in December 2013.
described as a misdemeanor assault in the 61. Andrew Stoll, a partner at Stoll, Glickman & Bellina, who is representing Patterson in the federal case, has been attending the Herskovic trial. He was not surprised by the testimony.
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PATTERSON, continued on p.15
Alleged Boyfriend Murderer Asked Forgiveness on Facebook Marcus Bellamy, Broadway dancer, posted cryptic “confession” in Bronx slaying of Bernardo Almonte BY PAUL SCHINDLER
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LINKEDIN.COM
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FACEBOOK.COM
man charged in the August 19 strangulation murder of his boyfriend in the Bronx took to Facebook in the immediate aftermath of the violence with a series of posts that amounted to a cryptic confession of sorts. “Forgive me father,” Marcus Bellamy, a 32-year-old Broadway dancer, wrote at 3:57 p.m. that afternoon, just moments after he allegedly killed Bernardo Almonte, Jr., 27, whom the Daily News reported Bellamy told police was his boyfriend. That post was followed in rapid succession by the following posts: “For god so loved the world that he gave his only son.”
“Lucifer.” “I am god. I give life and can take it away. So let it be. #therapture” “Forgive me. I did it because I love you. I love you all. I loved him also. He told me love and hate are the same emotion. Forgive me. I know not what I do. I did it for love. For god. On high.” The criminal complaint, which charges Bellamy with murder in the second degree and manslaughter in the first degree in Almonte’s strangling at 104 West 174th Street in the Morris Heights section, puts the time of the killing at approximately 4 p.m. The Daily News reported that after the killing, Bellamy left the apartment and told a neighbor that he had just slain Almonte. Bellamy will next appear in court
Marcus Bellamy.
Bernardo Almonte, Jr.
on September 9, at which time an indictment could be announced. Florida-bor n Bellamy was a back-up dancer in the Broadway production of “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Darkness,” and was in the
ensemble of the 2006 production of “Tarzan.” He also danced in the NBC show “Smash,” and the films “Across the Universe” and “A Mid-
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BELLAMY, continued on p.15
September 01 - 14, 2016 | GayCityNews.nyc