By Graham Rayman
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A reputed Latin Kings gang member was formally charged Tuesday with beating an off-duty firefighter to death with a baseball bat during a road rage incident in Brooklyn.
Suspect Joseph Desmond — who was just released from prison seven months ago after serving four years for an anti-gay attack in Queens — had been captured a week ago at a Circle Inn in South Amboy, N.J.
Following extradition he was brought to the 62nd Precinct stationhouse in Bath Beach and later moved from there to Central Booking.
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Desmond was found some 25 miles from where he allegedly attacked off-duty firefighter Faizal Coto Dec. 9, sparking a manhunt that ended when NYPD officers and U.S. marshals caught him.
Coto was attacked with a baseball bat on the Belt Parkway after his car bumped into Desmond’s vehicle near Exit 4 in Bath Beach.
Desmond allegedly drove off in his 2006 Infiniti G 35. A short time later, the car was tracked going through a Hudson River tunnel into New Jersey.
Coto, a three-year FDNY veteran, was a member of Engine 245 / Ladder 161 in Brooklyn.
Desmond was arrested on Sept. 25, 2012, for spewing anti-gay slurs and shooting a 23-year-old man with a stun gun at the corner of Gates Ave. and Fairview Ave. in Ridgewood.
According to court papers, Desmond stormed up to his victim, called him a “f-----t,” then blasted him in the chest with the stun gun.
The victim suffered a minor injury and called police. Cops arrested Desmond a few hours later. Desmond pleaded guilty to the charges in 2014 and served the four years before being released on parole until 2023.