Assault Suspect in New York City Hate Crime Case Sues City

A suspect in a brutal anti-gay attack in the Bronx last year is suing the city for injuries he says he sustained in a prison bus crash.

The Daily News reports that Idelfonso Mendez broke his wrist and injured his back when a Department of Correction bus taking him and other inmates to court collided with a car in January.

Prosecutors say Mendez was the ringleader of a gang that sodomized and tortured three men they believed to be gay last October. He’s being held at Rikers Island and faces 25 years to life if convicted.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, was filed in the Bronx on Friday. His lawyer in the civil case and the city Law Department declined to comment.