Police will investigate the assault of a Long Island woman and her girlfriend earlier this month as a hate crime.
Kimberly Page says she and her girlfriend were near the Patchogue-Medford Library when they were approached by four men who made crude, anti-gay slurs. Then the men attacked.
“He proceeds to hit me once in the face from that first punch. I fell to the ground. And I was unconscious for part of it. but what I know now is that he was bashing my head on the concrete ground.”
Both women went to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries, and Page was kept overnight.
Crime data shows hate crimes are on the rise across the U.S. and in New York.
Suffolk County Police encourage anyone with information to step forward. Police offer a reward of up to $5,000 for anything that leads to an arrest.