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Broward
Sheriff's Office says April stomping of man leaving Oakland Park diner
was not prompted by sexual orientation; the victim, Craig Cohen, died
last Wednesday
By Joel Marino
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The
Broward Sheriff's Office will not investigate the April beating of a
Wilton Manors man who died Wednesday as a hate crime, despite requests
from the man's friends and gay activists to consider that possibility.
Instead, detectives say Craig Cohen, 47, was a victim of chance,
fatally injured during a random robbery by men jacked on alcohol and
drugs.
"You don't just throw hate crime charges on a wall and hope they
stick," said Cmdr. Rick Wierzbicki, who heads the sheriff's year-old
Hate Crimes Task Force. "This attack just doesn't fit the criteria for
those charges."
Cohen was attacked April 6 as he walked the three blocks to his home
from the Peter Pan Diner, near Dixie Highway and Oakland Park
Boulevard. The men stomped on his head repeatedly, shattering his skull
and leaving his brain permanently damaged.
"I'm all right," he whispered to detectives who arrived on the scene,
according to police records. Those were his last words before he
slipped into a coma. He never regained consciousness for the six months
until he died at a Fort Lauderdale hospice. Friends brought Cohen's
beloved dog, Eddie, to visit him in the hospital, and a neighbor has
taken over the dog's care.
The two men accused of the attack, Victor Gonzalez, 21, and Pargu
Leandro, 25, are charged with attempted murder. They could face murder
charges, pending autopsy results from the Broward Medical Examiner's
Office.
But friends who cared for Cohen, hoping he'd awaken, say they think those charges may not be tough enough.
"I think the detectives have done a great job, and I want them to do
everything possible under the law to keep these guys behind bars," said
Hector Varas, 55, who knew Cohen for 30 years. "But I just can't call
this a simple robbery. There was hate involved here."
Like other people who knew Cohen, Varas thinks his friend was targeted because he was gay.
"This was too brutal an attack to lead me to think it was done
randomly. This was done 100 percent because of his sexuality," said
Scott Hall, president of Gay American Heroes. The Fort Lauderdale-based
organization educates communities on hate crimes.
Hall said an attack against another gay man later that night proves the
duo were out to target homosexuals. David Villanova, 27, of Pompano
Beach, was robbed and beaten soon after Cohen and survived. Gonzalez
and Leandro are charged with strong-arm robbery and aggravated battery
in that case.
Investigators say Cohen and Villanova were targeted because they were alone, not because they were gay.
"All the suspects wanted was an easy mark, people walking out of the diner by themselves," Wierzbicki said.
Though both suspects are from Deerfield Beach, they spent the night at
a friend's home near the Oakland Park diner, drinking alcohol and
smoking marijuana, according to police records. Officials say the men
left the house looking for a victim.
Police documents show Villanova's wallet and cell phone were stolen,
while Cohen's cell phone and keys were taken. The attackers didn't take
Cohen's wallet or other property, including a watch.
According to state law, a hate crime is any act against a person or
that person's property because of the victim's race, skin color,
ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, age or
disability.
Proving a hate crime is the tricky part, Wierzbicki said.
"There has to be evidence that the person was attacked because of his sexuality," he said.
According to Wierzbicki, the suspects told investigators they didn't know the men they'd attacked were gay.
Arthur Arndt, friend of 15 years, and Hector Varas, friend of 30 years,
sit with dog, Eddie. The two were friends with Craig Cohen and Arndt is
now taking care of Eddie dog after Cohen's death. (Carey Wagner, Sun
Sentinel / October 8, 2009)