A beloved music-school administrator was taken off of life support after being attacked in Queens by a stick-wielding thug, police said today.
Lou Rispoli, 62, passed away about 8:50 p.m. yesterday after being in hospice care at Elmhurst Hospital, cops said.
Rispoli went for a late-night stroll early Saturday, and was approached by two men about 2:15 a.m. along 43rd Avenue near 42nd Street, authorities said. One beat him in the head with a stick, while a third man may have acted as a lookout
He was openly gay, and police are investigating whether that may have been the motive in the attack, police said.
“We have not determined it to be a hate crime at this time. We’re looking at it as a possibility,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “Nobody’s in custody. We’re still looking for the assailants.”
Rispoli was a longtime Sunnyside resident who worked at the Greenwich House Music School in the West Village. He lived with his husband, and the two had been together for over thirty years.