HATE CRIME: Gay student brutally beaten [View All]

[ultraist]

http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-581652.html

Attack targets gay UNC student
BY ERIC FERRERI : The Herald-Sun
[e-mail]
Feb 28, 2005 : 6:45 pm ET

CHAPEL HILL -- An attack on a gay UNC student late last week is having a ripple effect in the university's gay and lesbian community, which is struggling to come to terms with what local police are deeming a hate crime.

"It came as an absolute, total surprise," said David Ruskey, a UNC senior and member of the executive board of the university's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Straight Alliance, a student group. "It's something I never would have foreseen happening in this area. From what I've seen of Chapel Hill, it's a fairly welcoming, open area. An incident happening like this is just mind-blowing."

Though the victim wasn't hospitalized, he was examined by doctors and suffered broken bones, police said. His attackers, described only as six or seven white males around the age of 20, have not been identified.

Police still have few details about the attack other than what the 21-year-old victim could recall. The student was walking alone around 2 a.m. Friday near the intersection of Franklin and Columbia streets when he was first taunted by the group of young men. They made derogatory comments about the victim's sexual orientation before assaulting him, said Jane Cousins, a Chapel Hill police spokeswoman.

Although the victim was walking along a popular stretch of roadway, no witnesses have come forward, Cousins said. more...

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Another Hate Crime recently occurred in CA:

http://www.adl.org/learn/extremism_in_the_news/White_Supremacy/Collins_Hate_Crime_2_27_05.htm?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_the_News

California White Supremacist Charged With Hate Crime
Posted: February 23, 2005

A white supremacist from Modesto, California, has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly attacking a mailman of Indian decent in Ceres.

Shane Douglas Collins, 21, was arrested on February 9, 2005, after allegedly beating the 40-year-old mailman, who was on his delivery route. Collins, whose body is covered with many Nazi tattoos, tried to flee the scene but was arrested shortly after in the act of stealing a bicycle, according to authorities.

Collins is charged with felonious assault, resisting arrest and two counts of burglary. The assault charge carries a hate-crime enhancement because police believe that Collins attacked the mailman because of his ethnicity. He faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted.

ADL’s issued a statement applauding the Ceres Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office for planning to prosecute this heinous act as a hate crime.

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Are we seeing an increase of Hate Crime activity?