Tag: violence

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Marshall University Running-Back Dismissed, Charged With Assault Of Same-Sex Couple

A Marshall University running-back, Steward Butler, has been dismissed from the school after he was charged with two counts of battery for attacking a gay couple.

According to a criminal complaint relayed to USA TODAY Sports by Huntington, W.Va., chief of police Joe Ciccarelli, the incident occurred on April 5 in downtown Huntington, when the two male victims exchanged a kiss on the street. Butler was a passenger in a vehicle that was driving by and stopped. He exited the car and began shouting derogatory comments about their sexual orientation.

According to the complaint, Butler then hit both victims with a closed fist.

“The type of violent, bigoted behavior reported to have been perpetrated by this student is not tolerated at Marshall University. Period,” said Marshall President Gary White. “This is an extremely serious matter,”

“We take all accusations against our student-athletes seriously, especially those of such a sensitive nature,” director of athletics Mike Hamrick said in a statement.

After being charged, Butler was released on $10,000 bail.

Butler was the second-leading rusher for his team last season with 795 yards in 12 games.

The FBI is investigating whether the incident will be classified as a hate crime.

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Cleveland Police Union Demands Apology From Cleveland Browns

At Sunday’s Cleveland Browns football game, Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins made headlines by wearing a T-shirt in pre-game warmups that read “Justice for Tamir Rice and John Crawford III.”

Twelve year old Rice was shot and killed by Cleveland police last month playing with a toy rifle; 22 year old Crawford was shot by police at a Wal-Mart while holding an air rifle.

Now, Cleveland Police Union President Jeff Follmer has demanded the Cleveland Browns apologize for the T-shirt’s appearance.

From Talking Points Memo:

“It’s pretty pathetic when athletes think they know the law,” the statement read, as quoted by WEWS. “They should stick to what they know best on the field. The Cleveland Police protect and serve the Browns stadium and the Browns organization owes us an apology.”

The Browns later issued a statement saying that the organization respects both the work of the Cleveland police department and their own players’ right to protest.

“We have great respect for the Cleveland Police Department and the work that they do to protect and serve our city,” the statement read, as quoted by the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. “We also respect our players’ rights to project their support and bring awareness to issues that are important to them if done so in a responsible manner.”

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Time Lapse Video: Millions March In NYC

Shot at the intersection of 6th Ave and 29th Street in New York City, approximately 90 minutes of footage is condensed to twenty-eight seconds.

From Time:

Thousands of people took to the streets of New York City on Saturday to demonstrate against police violence in the wake of several deadly confrontations this year between officers and unarmed black citizens.

According to reports, more than 25,000 people marched in New York on Saturday. Hundreds of miles away in Washington DC, thousands more held a similar protest.

(h/t JMG)

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HRC To President Obama: Call Out Gambian President Over LGBT Crimes

“We will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively.” — Gambian President Yahya Jammeh

In response to Gambia’s hideous treatment of gays and lesbians, the Human Rights Campaign calls on President Obama to restrict Gambian President Jammeh’s access to the United States and freeze his assets:

We know that President Jammeh has close connections to the United States. In fact, he owns a $3.5 million dollar home in Potomac, Maryland, and visits the US regularly. We also know that he cares about his international image and being part of the international community. So we believe that calling him out for his actions, and making it difficult for him to move around the world freely, might have an impact.

Therefore, HRC is calling on the U.S. government urgently to restrict entry to the U.S. for him and his associates, and to freeze any assets he may be holding here. It is essential that the U.S. deliver a strong message that human rights violators will not be welcome in the US, and that they must be held accountable for their crimes. Please join us in this action, and help protect LGBT Gambians. You can read and sign the petition here.

Read more at Human Rights Campaign.

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FBI Study Shows 20% Of Hate Crimes Due To Sexual Orientation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation released its annual Hate Crime Statistics report today which revealed that 20% of hate crimes in 2013 were due to bias based on sexual orientation.

Of the 1,402 hate crimes in 2013 based on sexual orientation, 60.6% were classified as anti-gay bias.
 
The total number of reported hate crimes in 2013 (5,928) was down slightly when compared to 2012 statistics which saw a reported 6,573 hate crimes.

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Accused Philadelphia Gay-Bashers Get December 6th Preliminary Hearing

The three suspects accused of the violent gay-bashing attack ib Center City on September 11th will have a preliminary hearing December 16th.

From Philly.com:

The three Bucks County residents arrested earlier this month for allegedly attacking two gay men in Center City will have a joint preliminary hearing on Dec. 16, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The defendants – Kathryn Knott, 24, Philip Williams, 24, and Kevin Harrigan, 26 – were excused from having to appear at the status hearing by agreement with the District Attorney’s Office.

But attorneys for Knott, of Southampton, and Harrigan, of Warrington, said their clients are not gay-bashers.

Williams did not utter any homophobic slurs during the Sept. 11 incident near Rittenhouse Square, said his attorney, Fortunato Perri Jr.

“Fortunately, my client will have a chance to present this case in a court of law instead of the court of public opinion,” Perri told reporters.

When asked if Williams had been struck or if he struck either of the two gay men, Perri said: “We’ll resolve that matter in a court of law.”

Attorney Joshua Scarpello, who represents Harrigan, said, “There certainly is another side to this case, there always is, and it’s going to come to light.”

The three defendants are each charged with two counts of aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person; and one count each of criminal conspiracy.

“This vicious attack shocked the entire country. An assault on people because of their sexual orientation has no place in Philadelphia,” District Attorney Seth Williams said at the time of the defendants’ arrests.

The couple, who has been together for six years, told investigators that Harrigan shouted the first gay slur, Williams attacked both of them and that Knott participated in the name calling and physical assault, a police source told the Daily News.

Both gay men were briefly hospitalized, and one suffered severe facial injuries that required his jaw to be wired shut.

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Brooklyn: Three Arrested in Connection to Anti-Gay Shooting

NYC Police have arrested three in connection to what is being called an anti-gay shooting in Brooklyn that took place Saturday morning.

From NBC New York:

According to police, the victim was dressed as a woman and walking down the street with two other men in Bushwick Saturday morning, when the three suspects approached them and began making anti-gay comments.

A dispute ensued and one of the men shot the victim in the buttocks.

Tavon Johnson, 17, and Cody Sigue, 22 were charged with third degree menacing as a hate crime. Matthew Smith, 21, was charged with first degree assault and was also charged in a separate shooting Friday night.

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French Tourist Latest Victim of ISIS Beheading

A French tourist kidnapped in Algeria has been the victim of another beheading under guidance by ISIS.

The killing was apparently in retaliation for the French involvement in recent airstrikes against the terrorist group.

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Philadelphia: Gay Bashing Suspects To Be Arrested This Week

According to a source close to the current police investigation of the Center City gay bashing incident, arrests should happen this week and “people are going to get locked up.”

As of this morning, police had interviewed 18 possible suspects and witnesses.  One more key person of interest – “the girl in the middle of it all” – will be interviewed today.

The process has been time consuming as police want to make sure they “get it right,” and each interview takes at least four hours:

“We’ve had to schedule with the attorneys for all the different times for them to come in,” the source said. “But Monday morning as soon as the stores opened, we started working through the video and then we started the interviews. We want to make sure whoever threw a punch or whoever was part of this assault will be arrested. What happens with cases like this is that, if you rush it and don’t do a good job, they’ll start throwing out charges later on. These kids all have top-notch attorneys, so if our case isn’t put together on our end, they’re going to pick it apart. But we’ve put together a great case for the DA and we’ll be working in conjunction with the DA to bring the charges.”

“The stories have been pretty consistent so far,” the source said. “It looks like it started by either a bump or words being exchanged, and then punches were thrown. But not everyone in the crowd knew what was going on. People were kind of staggering, and some didn’t seem to realize the extent of the one guy’s injuries.”

“It’s a tragedy for the two guys who were hurt and it’s a tragedy for some of the people in the crowd because the majority weren’t involved,” the source said. “But the guys who were involved are going to pay the price.”

The violent attack has renewed attention on the lack of hate crime laws with respect to crime on LGBT people.

In 2002, the state legislature had added sexual orientation to the hate crime laws, but it was later challenged and repealed on a technicality. State Rep. Brendan Boyle has introduced a bill to amend the current hate crime law to include LGBT citizens.

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South Dakota man gets decked asking stranger to stop using gay slur

Drew Bratscher, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, got a face full of what it’s like to be an LGBT ally sometimes when he tried to stand up to a woman using a gay slur.

From LGBTQNation:

Bartscher, 27, says he was in crowd with two of his friends outside a local tavern around early Sunday morning when he heard a woman use a derogatory term for gays.

Bartscher, who is straight, says he politely told her she should not say that word.

What happened next blindsided him, reports KELO-TV.

“Then I hear this guy yell at me, ‘What the F did you say to my girlfriend?!?!’ I turned just a little bit and then the next thing I know, my friends are picking me up off the sidewalk, (because) I had gotten punched pretty good,” Bartscher said.

Though Bartscher says he’s a bit embarrassed about his shiner, he’s not ashamed of what he did to get it. He says he posted a photo of his injury almost immediately afterward, with the caption: “Stand up for what you believe in. Love everyone.”

No good deed goes unpunished, kids. I tell you what…

But props to Drew for standing up for the good guys. You get my respect.