New York: Arrest made in connection with attack on gay journalist

Police say incident is not hate-motivated

Police have arrested a suspect in connection with a Jan 17 attack on gay journalist Randy Gener, who is recovering from brain surgery in hospital, CBS New York reports.

Leighton Jennings of Queens has been charged with second-degree assault, the report says.

Gener had almost reached his apartment after a night out when he was punched. His family says he doesn’t recall much about the incident and could undergo additional surgery.

A fundraising site has been set up to assist Gener with medical costs.

CBS notes that police, who were investigating the attack as a hate crime, have now said the incident was not motivated by bias.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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