Second suspect charged with hate crimes


John Ruch

FOREST HILLS—A second suspect is facing hate crime charges in a New Year’s incident where a local straight couple allegedly attacked a local lesbian couple for holding hands and kissing.

Hattie Boseman now joins Herbert A. Malloy as a co-defendant in the hate crime case. Boseman and Malloy live on Weld Hill Street near the scene of the allegedly attack. They both face two counts of civil rights violations; assault with intent to intimidate; and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Those charges were filed and updated in February. No trial date has been set. Boseman and Malloy remain free without bail.

The alleged hate crime took place around 3 a.m. on Jan. 1. Boseman allegedly screamed out a truck window at the lesbian couple, then leaped out and attacked them by swinging a handbag. Malloy allegedly joined in by punching one of the women in the face.

Boseman and Malloy allegedly made statements during and after the attack indicating that they found it disgusting that the lesbian couple was holding hands and kissing.

Boseman and Malloy are also now subject to a court order, or injunction, that bars them from committing any civil rights violation based on someone’s sexual orientation, under penalty of fines or prison. The state Attorney General’s Office secured that injunction against the couple last week.

“Our office will continue to hold accountable individuals who intimidate and assault people because of hatred or ignorance,” said state Attorney General Martha Coakley in a press release about the injunction.

Boseman’s attorney, Fritz Pluviose, did not return a Gazette phone call for this article. Malloy’s attorney, Jude Kostas, declined to comment on the criminal case. The couple did not respond to a Gazette note left at their house in January.

Kostas noted that the injunction “doesn’t mean anything, really,” in terms of the outcome of the criminal case, because it comes from a civil court and is in effect only until the case wraps up. In short, the injunction bars the couple from committing civil rights violations, but does not prove that they already have committed any.

The couple is already barred by another court order from contacting the alleged victims. One of those victims told the Gazette that the court order is welcome.

“Basically, they now can’t be within 50 feet of where we work or where we live or hang out, which is pretty awesome,” she said.

The Gazette has agreed to keep the alleged victims anonymous in articles about the case, because they also live in Forest Hills and say they still fear for their safety.

The alleged victim said she has seen Malloy around the neighborhood since the Jan. 1 incident, but had “no trouble.”

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