Immigrant dies a week after attack in N.Y.

NEW YORK (AP) — An Ecuadorean immigrant viciously beaten by men who yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs at him and his brother has died, nearly a week after the attack.

Jose Sucuzhanay died late Friday at Elmurst Hospital as his mother was en route from Ecuador to see him, spokesman Francisco Moya said. Sucuzhanay, a 31-year-old real estate broker, had been listed in critical condition since the assault early Dec. 7.

Police were searching for three suspects in the attack. The New York Police Department's hate crime task force is investigating what prosecutors have called an appalling eruption of bigotry.

Sucuzhanay and his brother Romel, 38, were walking arm-in-arm after a night out when a sport utility vehicle pulled up near them at a Brooklyn stoplight, police said.

Witnesses said they heard the men in the car shouting anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs at the brothers. The attackers jumped out of the car and smashed a beer bottle over Jose Sucuzhanay's head, hit him in the head with an aluminum baseball bat and kicked him, police said. Romel Sucuzhanay was able to get away; the attackers drove off after he returned and said he had called police, authorities said.

His mother, Julia Quintuna, obtained a humanitarian visa late this week to visit her son. She landed Saturday only to learn that he had died, Moya said.