Cops: Lakeview Robbery an Anti-gay Bias Crime

A man was arrested Wednesday and two other suspects are still being sought for beating and robbing two men in Lakeview early Sunday morning in a case that is being investigated as a bias crime with anti-gay overtones, Nassau police said.

The two victims, one dressed in drag for Halloween, were walking on Woodfield Road near Janos Avenue when they were approached by a green Nissan driven by a woman with three men inside, including 23-year-old Robert Bellamy Jr. of Lakeview, and two others not yet arrested, who got out of the vehicle and surrounded the victims at 1:50 a.m., according to 5th Squad detectives.

Bellamy punched one victim in the face, then he and the two other suspects punched the second victim in his head and face, knocking him to the ground and calling him “faggot” in the process, police said. While the victim was on the ground, all three suspects kicked him in the stomach and stole $7 cash from his pant pockets before they fled the scene.

The alleged attack occurred after the same group of men first encountered the two men at a gas station where they first called one of the two men a faggot, Nassau police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said.

The victims were walking home from a Halloween party, he said. It was unclear if the victims are in fact gay, but hate crimes laws are applied based on alleged attacker’s perception, Mulvey added.

Both victims were taken to Mercy Hospital where they were treated for their injuries. Bellamy was charged with robbery as a hate crime and two counts of assault as a hate crime. He will be arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on Thursday.