The victim was allegedly followed through the streets by a man who demanded oral sex (Pexels)
A gay man in Queens has told of being beaten, dragged and robbed in the street after refusing to perform oral sex on a stranger.
The alleged attack occurred in the early hours of October 13 as he walked home from a friend’s house.
The man, who is identified only as ‘Carlos’ by Gay City News, said the assailant walked up to him and started whispering in his ear. As the stranger followed him from 37th Avenue and 78th Street to 77th Street, the situation quickly escalated.
“When I looked back, he grabbed his penis and said, ‘You want this?’ I didn’t pay attention to it,” Carlos recalled. “When I turned around a second time, he said, ‘Do you want to suck my dick?’ I said, ‘No.’”
Carlos said the man continued to press him for oral sex even as he tried escaping. Finally the man told him, “I’ve got you locked now.” He then became aggressive, repeatedly hitting him in the head and stealing his phone and his backpack.
As he tried to open Carlos’ phone, Carlos fled and flagged down a nearby car, begging the driver for help.
“When I got to the car, [the attacker] kicked me and I fell. When I fell, he kept hitting me on my back and kicking me on the back. The guy in the car rolled his window and said something to him, but the man said I was trying to rob him — like he was the victim.”
The alleged attacker then dragged Carlos across the street and demanded money from him. Eventually Carlos was able to break away, and he ran to a nearby police van to report the crime.
The police were able to find the assailant using the “Find My iPhone” app to track the phone. 26-year-old Bronx resident Jelani Stewart was arrested on charges of robbery and public lewdness.
Carlos informed police of the sexual assault but was too shaken by the attack to complete a statement at the time.
“I’m injured right now, but I have to come to work,” he said. “Other than that, I would have been in the hospital. I have back pain, stomach pain… my nose, my eyes, my ears, my head. I took some pain medication.”
Police recovered the phone but not Carlos’ backpack. Carlos plans to reach out to local LGBT+ advocates to ensure the man is prosecuted.