By Albert Amateau
Two suspects beat a 28-year-old man on the northeast corner of Sixth Ave. and W. Third St. around 4:30 a.m. Sun., March 27, in a suspected gay-bashing that left the victim with two black eyes and four stitches to close the lacerations around his left eye.
The victim, Damian Furtch, who had come to the Village recently from California, left his job at the Pink Tea Cup, on Seventh Ave. South at Barrow and Bleecker Sts., after closing time with a fellow employee and stopped at McDonald’s, at 136 W. Third St. near Sixth Ave., police said.
Two men, accompanied by two women, all between 18 and 20 years old, began to harass the pair, who left the place. The two men from the group, both described by police as Hispanic, followed the victim across W. Third St. and started punching him and shouting antigay epithets. Furtch, a 6-foot-4-inch black man described by friends as a “gentle giant,” went to Roosevelt Hospital on his own. His co-worker was not attacked.
Furtch left a message about his ordeal and a picture on his Facebook page.
“I thought I was safe in the city I loved but apparently wearing fluorescent colored clothing and pink shoelaces really bother some f…ing a……. to blind side me and hit me,” the Facebook page says.
Lawrence Page, owner of the Pink Tea Cup where the victim works, said on Wednesday that Furtch, an aspiring actor and model, was still recovering and was not back at work yet.
“We’re standing by him,” Page said. “Damian is tough. He’s a brilliant, smart guy who has a lot of support from friends here. He’s not going to be scared away.”
