Gay men file complaint over behavior of Dallas police

[davidinalameda]

http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_2599.php

Four gay men have filed a complaint with Dallas Police Department’s internal affairs division claiming police officers responding to a 911 call failed to carry out their duties at the scene of a bias-related assault.

Bill Lindsey said he and three other gay men and a woman went to Denny’s restaurant at Motor Street and I-35 at about 2:30 a.m. on June 18 to eat breakfast. Three of the party had just finished performing in a charity drag show at Illusions, but they were not in costume.

A couple and two men and a woman sitting at other tables began harassing them in the restaurant, Lindsey said.

“They were sitting at a table calling us faggots and faggot bitches,” Lindsey said. “We kind of put up with it. We even made a comment to our waitress about them being rude and tried to overlook it.”

[MADem]

1. Good grief, DENNY's...it's always the stage for this kind of stuff

A whole load of blame to go around, here:

“I must have said 12 times that I wasn’t leaving until I got a police report,” Lindsey said. “This gentleman said, ‘If you don’t cool it we’ll take you downtown.’”

A Dallas Police Department squad car arrived about 30 minutes after the 911 calls were made, but the officers never approached them, Lindsey said.

Lindsey said the assault and the response by police officers left them shaken and outraged.

“I’m just appalled,” Lindsey said. “I think I’m more angry about their response to us and their emotion to us and our issues than I was the whole beating up factor.”

Michael Champion, Lindsey’s partner, said in a copy of the internal affairs complaint he provided to Dallas Voice that he was dismayed by the actions of Denny’s employees and other customers who watched the assault.

“The sad thing about the whole event is that all the Denny’s employees and customers were standing outside watching making no attempt to help or call for help,” Champion said.

Champion said the police officers failed to offer them medical assistance......


Ya gotta wonder why some people are just so damn mean???

[kevinbgoode]

2. The restaurant should have kicked the bashers out

. . .period. As soon as the customers complained about the language, the waitress had an obligation to report it so management could moniter the situation. As soon as an employee overheard the verbal assault, the perpetrators should have been told to leave, refused service, and the police called to enforce it. Denny's has an obligation to protect the safety of all its customers and is under no obligation to serve rude, unruly people who are verbally attacking strangers in the restaurant.

[readmoreoften]

3. Why wouldn't people bash us?

They're incited to riot every night on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX. We're repeatedly characterized as a major threat against America. So, isn't it only their patriotic duty?

[Algorem]

4. similar in St. Maarten

Gay bashers turned vacation in tropics into a nightmare for Sandusky native

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1152088338238080.xml&coll=2

Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Molly Kavanaugh
Plain Dealer Reporter

...The 25-year-old Sandusky native was brutally beaten by locals who first taunted the gay couple in a bar, Smith said. Police did not interview witnesses or gather evidence that night and then dragged their feet for weeks, he said.

The prime suspect was finally arrested two months after the attack, but at this point has been charged only with attempted manslaughter. Three others remain in custody...

Jefferson, 51, who returned to the island after the attack to prod investigators, has often vacationed on the Caribbean island.

"There is a rising homophobia that I've never seen before," Jefferson said...