2nd suspect named in gay bias attack

  Josh Einiger, Eyewitness News

QUEENS (WABC) -- Police have released a photo of the suspect in the brutal beating of a gay man in Queens.

Investigators are seeking Daniel Rodriguez, 21, of 5-02 115 Street, College Point, Queens in connection with the assault.

"To do this as a human being, no matter what their sexuality is, is a disgrace," Joanne Guarneri said.

For Guarneri, the past 72 hours have been torture. She and her family are holding a constant vigil for her brother-in-law, Jack Price, who was attacked on the street because he is gay.

Guarneri got to the hospital just before the 49 year old slipped into a coma. He told her he had stopped at an all-night grocery store for some smokes early Friday morning, but ran into two neighborhood thugs.

He said they taunted him, chased him and beat him to a pulp.

"It's not just that people are being shoved or punched. It's that their lips are being split or they're ending up in the hospital or they're being murdered, Kim Fountain said.

Fountain, deputy director of the New York Anti-Violence Project, says this type of random bias crime is actually up 36 percent nationally in the past year.

Ironically, she says it's because gay rights have come so far.

"When we become more visible, it sends a message to the general population we're getting more and more rights and advocating for ourselves more, and so people are taking out their vices on us," she said.

Before doctors induced price's coma, he managed to pick out photos of his attackers.

"This man would not hurt a soul. He's five foot six and 130 pounds," said Guarneri.

Twenty-six-year-old Daniel Aleman was arrested Sunday and charged with assault and aggravated assault as a hate crime.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Daniel Rodriguez is asked to call the New York City Police Department's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.

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