Dec 14, 2008 9:09 am US/Eastern
NYC Immigrant Dies After Possible Hate Attack
NYPD Releases Sketch Of 1 Of The Thugs That Beat And Eventually Killed Ecuadorean Man Jose Sucuzhanay
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
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Diego Sucuzhanay describes to CBS 2 HD's Pablo Guzman what happened to his brother during a vicious bias attack on Dec. 7.
CBS
An Ecuadorean immigrant viciously beaten by men who yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs at him and his brother has died, nearly a week after the attack, a spokesman said Saturday.
He was declared brain dead last week," family spokesman Francisco Moya said. "The purpose for keeping him alive was so his mother and father could see him alive. Unfortunately, that didn't happen – the mother arrived this evening."
Sucuzhanay, a 31-year-old real estate broker, had been listed in critical condition since the assault early on Dec. 7.
Police were searching for three suspects in the attack, which drew outrage from the City Council speaker and other political leaders. The New York Police Department's Hate Crime Task Force is investigating what prosecutors have called an appalling eruption of bigotry.
Sucuzhanay and his brother Romel, 38, were walking arm-in-arm after a night out when a sport utility vehicle pulled up near them at a Brooklyn stoplight, police said.
Witnesses said they heard the men in the car shouting anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs at the brothers. The attackers jumped out of the car and smashed a beer bottle over Jose Sucuzhanay's head, hit him in the head with an aluminum baseball bat and kicked him, police said. Romel Sucuzhanay was able to get away; the attackers drove off after he returned and said he had called police, authorities said.
Family members and advocates planned a press conference Sunday to urge authorities to find the assailants.
"You never think that this is something that you'd see here," Moya said. "He was a hardworking, successful businessman who cared a lot for his family and the people who worked for him ... (and was) targeted for just the way he looks."
Jose Sucuzhanay had lived in the United States for more than 10 years and had a real estate business in Brooklyn, Moya said. The slain man has two children in Ecuador.
His mother, Julia Quintuna, obtained a humanitarian visa late this week to visit her injured son. She landed Saturday only to learn that he had died, Moya said.
CBS 2's Dave Carlin and Lou Young contributed to this story.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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