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A Westhampton Beach woman and two others have been charged with a hate crime after Suffolk County Police said they beat up a Mastic Beach woman on her front lawn Monday night while shouting anti-gay remarks.
Suffolk County Police arrested Nora Mitzner, 21, of Westhampton Beach, Lindsay McBeth, 25, of Medford, and Selwyn Icangelo, 20, of Mastic Beach and charged them with aggravated harassment in the second degree, a misdemeanor. Police said the attack is being labeled as a hate crime.
Ms. McBeth was arraigned in 1st District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday, June 30, and released after posting $500 cash bail. Ms. Mitzner and Mr. Icangelo were also scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday. Their bail information was not immediately available.
The trio apparently began attacking the woman because they thought she was taking photographs of them, said Detective Sergeant Robert Reecks, commanding officer of the Suffolk County Police Hate Crimes Unit.
The three attackers pulled up to a house on Gooseberry Drive, located across the street from the victim’s home, in a car driven by Mr. Icangelo at around 7:05 p.m., Det. Sgt. Reecks said. They were about to enter the home when they spotted the victim in her front yard with a camera. Ms. McBeth, Ms. Mitzner and Mr. Icangelo began yelling at the woman before beating her up, police said.
As they beat up the victim, they called her “queer” and Ms. Mitzner told her two friends to “f---ing tear that f---ing queer’s face off,” Det. Sgt. Reecks said.
Another woman, identified by police as the victim’s partner, told authorities that the victim was just photographing a dog that belonged to one of the three attackers.
“They were assuming their pictures were being taken and a verbal argument started,” Det. Sgt. Reecks said. “The [victim’s] partner said they were taking pictures of their dog. It was frolicking in the yard.”
The victim, whom police declined to identify because she is the victim of a crime, was taken to an area hospital and treated for minor injuries to her face and body.
Police Investigating Car Fire
Suffolk County Arson Squad detectives are still investigating a fire that destroyed a vacant BMW SUV that was left on the shoulder of Country Road 51 in Eastport.
Members of the Eastport Fire Department were called to the scene at 12:40 a.m. on Friday, June 26, and were able to extinguish the blaze within minutes. No injuries were reported, according to Chief Tom Jacobsen.
Chief Jacobsen said it does not appear that the SUV had crashed prior to the fire. He also said the vehicle’s owner was not at the scene.
Arson Squad detectives are still investigating the cause of the fire that destroyed the SUV, which had a New York registration. They declined to comment on the case and would not identify the owner of the vehicle.
Chief Jacobsen said the SUV was “totally destroyed” by the fire and that firefighters found nothing else of note at the scene.
“It’s a pretty basic run-of-the-mill car fire, except that there was no one around to claim ownership of the vehicle,” Chief Jacobsen said.
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