Police on Long Island are investigating a possible hate crime after a lesbian couple in New York were brutally attacked by a group of men, reports NBC News.
Authorities say Kimberly Page and her girlfriend were in an alleyway just west of the Patchogue-Medford Library around 3:30 a.m. on July 7 when they were approached by a group of men.
One of the men allegedly made lewd comments toward the women before he assaulted Page.
“It originated by him asking her (Page’s girlfriend) ‘if she would want some real (expletive),’” Page said. “From there, we ignored them. It eventually got to the point where they were much closer to us. It was becoming a lot more heated.”
One of the men told Page’s girlfriend, “I’m not going to fight you, I’m going to fight her,” because Page is “a dude.”
The man allegedly slapped Page’s girlfriend and then punched Page.
“From that first punch I fell to the ground and I was unconscious for part of it, but what I know now is he was bashing my head on the ground,” she said.
When the girlfriend tried to intervene, she was pushed down by the group of men. The men fled the scene before police arrived.
“My knee has a gash in it,” she said. She also suffered injuries to her eye, face, and back of the head.
The couple was taken to the hospital, and Page had to stay overnight.
“Seeing her and what was done to her tore my wife and I up,” said Timothy Page, Kimberly Page’s father.
“Yes, I want to find person who did it but I want understanding to come out and people to understand we’re all different but we have to live together.”
Her mother, Marie Page, said that she fears for her daughter’s safety now.
“Honestly, every time she leaves the house I’m a little bit afraid, I’m a little bit afraid because there’s a lot of hate in the world,” she said.
Suffolk County Police have offered a $5000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
