Police are investigating a gay bias attack that happened over the weekend outside a McDonald's in Manhattan's West Village.
In a brave move the 26 year old victim has posted photos of his bashed and bruised face on social network sites.
Damian Furtch, 26, and his pal had just finished work at the nearby Pink Tea Cup Restaurant in the West Village and were eating at the McDonald's on Sixth Avenue early Sunday when two men allegedly began to hassle them, according to multiple reports.
Leery of alleged stares from the two men, Furtch and his friend left the fast-food spot and the alleged attackers pursued them on the street, reportedly spewing anti-gay slurs and brandishing fists. Furtch sustained severe head and eye injuries in the alleged attack; his friend wasn't hurt.
Furtch posted pictures of his bruised, bloodied swollen face on Facebook and commented on his wall, "I thought I was safe in the city I loved but apparently wearing fluorescent colored clothing and pink shoelaces really bother some f-----g a--holes to blind side me and hit me."
Furtch also indicated on his Facebook profile that he had to get four stitches. Doctors also have to break and re-set his nose, according to a blogger familiar with the incident.
Lawrence Page, Furtch's boss at the Pink Tea Cup, told the Daily News the young man called in after the attack to report he couldn't come to work because he had been beaten.
"He said he was in the hospital all day," Page told the paper. "Then I saw the pictures."
Cops are still looking for the alleged attackers. One of the suspects reportedly has a large tattoo of a Gothic cross under his left eye.
Police have heightened their attention to potential hate-crime investigations after a spate of anti-gay attacks across the five boroughs in recent months. At least one teenager has died as a result of what investigators believe to be a hate-crime beating.
Earlier this month, 18-year-old Anthony Collao, of Queens, was jumped and viciously beaten with a metal pipe after attending a birthday party over the weekend. Police think Collao was targeted because his attackers thought he was gay; the teenager's friends say he wasn't gay, but the men hosting the birthday party were openly gay. Collao died March 14 after being taken off life support.
Cops arrested five suspects in connection with the Collao investigation. They face manslaughter and assault charges.
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