Man charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing man in neck during ‘homophobic hate crime’
Hate crimes are rising in the US. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty)
A Brooklyn man has been indicted on hate crime and attempted murder charges after allegedly attacking a LGBT+ couple and stabbing one of them in the neck.
Emmanuel Dash, 32, has been held on $40,000 bail and could face a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted, Brooklyn district attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Wednesday, August 29.
Gonzalez said: “This defendant allegedly violated the sanctity and safety of this couple’s home when he showed up at their door spewing hate, then escalated it to a violent assault.”
According to the investigation, in the early morning of June 22, a man and his gender non-conforming partner were allegedly harassed by Dash outside their apartment, where he said: “I’m glad I know where you live, because I don’t like gay people.”
There is no place for such ignorance and intolerance in Brooklyn, where we celebrate our diversity. We will now seek to hold this defendant accountable for this very serious attack.
— Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez (@BrooklynDA) August 28, 2019
The stab wound in ‘hate crime’ resulted in a partial severing of the victim’s vertebral artery.
The defendant is then accused of knocking on doors until he found the apartment where the couple live, and when they answered the door he threatened them with a knife.
They said they closed the door on Dash, but later went to look for him, as they recognised him from the local area and wanted to speak with him.
As they returned to their building, Dash allegedly ran at them and began attacking them with the knife. The man was stabbed in the back of the neck, resulting in a six-inch would which partially severed the vertebral artery.
His gender non-conforming partner called 911 and he was taken to hospital. The defendant was arrested at his home on June 24.
The district attorney added: “There is no place for such ignorance and intolerance in Brooklyn, where we celebrate our diversity. We will now seek to hold this defendant accountable for this very serious attack.”
The recent surge in hate crimes in the US marks the steepest rise since 2015, and has reached a decade high.
