LONG ISLAND CITY — The Police Department determined an attack on an interracial couple in Long Island City was not a hate crime, cops said.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit looked into the Aug. 17 attack before concluding it was not sparked by hate, police said. The 108th Precinct then took control of the case to investigate it as an assault, cops said.
It all began when Billie James-Vogel, who is black, and her husband Jacob, who is white, left Shi restaurant near the corner of Center Boulevard and 47th Avenue around 2 a.m. with a gay friend, when three men got out of a car and allegedly began yelling racial slurs at her, the couple told NBC news at the time.
After the husband protested, the couple alleged the men pushed him down and began pummeling him before throwing Billie James-Vogel to the ground when she tried to intervene, according to the interview they gave with the news channel.
Police later arrested 28-year-old Nikoloas Katsos and charged him with assault, officials said.
In a statement released by the restaurant, owner Shih Lee said “the surveillance footage confirms our understanding that the incident occurred down the street from the restaurant, away from the premises and not in front as initially reported.”
Lee said the victims were not randomly attacked and James-Vogel was asked to leave before the incident occurred because of disorderly conduct.
The search for two other suspects in the assault was ongoing, the NYPD said.
