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RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- Three brothers suspected of beating an off-duty New York firefighter on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks were ordered held on $1 million cash bail each at their arraignments Monday.
Darrell and Darian Taylor, who are 28-year-old twins, and their half brother, Christopher Robinson, pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault in the Sept. 11 beating of Richard Berkhout, of Mastic Beach.
Berkhout, 46, who works in the Jamaica section of Queens, and his wife, Margaret, 47, were walking home from a meeting at the Mastic Beach Yacht Club about 9:15 p.m. when he yelled at the brothers to slow down their car, police said. The car stopped, and the brothers got out and beat him, police said.
Berkhout suffered a fractured skull, a brain hemorrhage and numerous cuts and bruises and remained in a hospital intensive care unit Monday.
Earlier on Sept. 11, he and his wife had attended a memorial Mass in Queens, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
The Taylor brothers were arrested at the scene. Robinson, 25, who had been released on parole earlier that day after serving four years in state prison for felony assault, was arrested three days later.
Dozens of firefighters attended Monday's Suffolk County Criminal Court session and broke out into applause when bail was set at $1 million.
All three suspects were scheduled back in court Oct. 17.
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