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Photo credit: Cynthia Conti-Cook stands with her clients Ben Collins, Tony Maenza and Josh Williams.Nancy Borowick
Gay rights groups and anti-violence activists gathered Tuesday outside One Police Plaza to condemn NYPD officers they said wrongly arrested three men in Brooklyn last week because they were gay, saying it was indicative of the force's "homophobia."
Josh Williams, 26, alleges that he and two friends were called anti-gay slurs and assaulted after a police officer accused Williams of urinating on a building. Williams was wrestled to the ground, and was charged with resisting arrest.
"We did absolutely nothing wrong. What was done to us was wrong," Williams said Tuesday.
The NYPD said the officers saw Williams urinate on a dumpster in the 79th Precinct's parking lot, and that Williams was "combative and uncooperative.”
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The latest:
BROOKLYN - Three openly gay men demanded justice in front of NYPD headquarters today for what they describe as a bias-motivated attack in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Ben Collins, Antonio Maenza and Josh Williams say they were attacked by a group of officers while walking past the 79th Precinct. They say that an officer used an anti-gay slur toward them and falsely accused Williams of public urination.
Williams says he was physically assaulted and pepper-sprayed while in handcuffs. All three men were arrested.
Police say an officer saw a man urinating on a dumpster in the parking lot near the precinct gasoline pumps. The same police officer approached the individual who he described as "uncooperative." Authorities say force was used when Williams resisted arrest. Maenza and Collins are said to have interfered with the arrest and were cited for obstructing governmental administration.
The New York City Anti-Violence Project is calling for the charges against Williams to be dropped, and for the NYPD to hold the officers involved accountable.
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