Teens charged in anti-gay bias attack on Long Island

NEW YORK - Three teenagers on Long Island face assault and harassment charges in an alleged bias attack on a 14-year-old boy they believed was gay...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

From: NBC New York

Three teenagers on Long Island face assault and harassment charges in an alleged bias attack on a 14-year-old boy they believed was gay.

Nassau Police said that the three teens had harassed the younger boy verbally at Nassau BOCES High School in Hicksville for some time, but only on Tuesday and Wednesday did their treatment turn violent.

“There was an ongoing course of conduct against this particular student,” said Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey.

According to police, the suspects — 18-year-old David Spencer of North Valley Stream and 16-year-olds Roy Wilson of Baldwin and Chase Morrison from Lakeview — beat the victim while on a bus leaving Nassau Boces in Hicksville.

At their arraignment today Spencer and Morrison were charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and second-degree aggravated harassment, a felony. Wilson was charged with third-degree assault, police said.

The teens allegedly slapped and kicked the boy on Tuesday, Oct. 12, and then also harassed him on the bus ride on Wednesday, Oct. 13.

Cops said there were two adults on the bus, the female driver and a monitor — who was pregnant — but they didn’t report the incidents as they should have. On Tuesday, police said that the driver actually stopped the bus to investigate the commotion.

“It’s hard to believe we would have an incident like this after what happened in the Bronx and at Rutgers,” said Mulvey.

Mulvey said investigators were still waiting to talk to the two women who worked for the First Student Bus Company.

Spencer and Wilson were arraigned at Hempstead court and bail was set at $1,000.

This was the latest in a string of attacks and harassment crimes on gay individuals in the past weeks.

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