NYC Man Arrested, Avoids Hate Crime Charge for Stabbing Gay Man

New York City police said Tuesday they arrested man believed to have stabbed a gay man in the Bronx earlier this month, but did not charge him with a hate crime, the New York Daily News reports.

Kareem Ruddock, 25, was charged with felony assault and weapons possession.

Marquis Devereaux said he was walking home from work on July 10 when he was confronted by two men near his home at a gated community in the Bronx. Devereaux, a 39-year-old event planner, claims one of the men said: "We're not going to do any of that boyfriend stuff around here" before one of them allegedly slashed him in his arm.

Devereaux also said one of the men called him a "homo," "faggot" and "bumbaclot," a Jamaican slang word for a rag used as toilet paper.

The suspects fled the scene and Devereaux was taken to the hospital where he received eight stitches for the attack.

The New York Daily News reports it is unclear why police did not charge Ruddock, who lives near Devereaux, with a hate crime.

This is the second attack Devereaux suffered in less than five years. In January 2011, he was stabbed in Queens by a man who made fun of his sexuality. Dario Reid was charged with a hate crime and served three years in prison, the newspaper reports.