Bias attack on first gay couple married at West Point, says NYPD
NEW YORK - Investigators are searching for a suspect in a bias attack on the first gay couple to be married at the United States Military Academy at West Point, police said Tuesday.
Daniel Lennox-Choate, 30, and his husband, Larry, were shopping Sunday at a SoHo newsstand in Manhattan when they encountered the man, authorities said. They say he began shouting anti-gay slurs at the couple and then punched Lennox-Choate in the face.
The man fled on a bike, and the couple called police. Lennox-Choate refused medical attention.
"It's hard to believe that in 2015 we would have to deal with anti-gay hate crimes in soho of all places," Larry Lennox-Choate wrote on his Facebook page Sunday. "The hate crimes division of the NYPD is on the case and we have full faith a positive outcome will follow."
No arrests have been made. Police issued a photo of the suspect wearing a white T-shirt and holding a black backpack.
Daniel Lennox-Choate graduated from West Point in 2007, and his husband graduated two years later. The pair did not know each other as cadets but met later through a mutual friend.
They were married in 2013 at the landmark Gothic chapel at the Army academy in the Hudson Valley.
Police released a picture of the suspect, who is described as a white man, about 5'8″ tall and 130 pounds with curly hair. He was wearing a white T-shirt and blue shorts and had a grey bicycle and a black backpack.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.