Because it’s Sunday, I’m having a hard time getting additional information about an apparent anti-gay hate crime that occurred late Friday or early Saturday near the Cedar Springs strip. See my previous post below.
Despite the fact that the suspects yelled anti-gay slurs as they beat the victims with baseball bats, Dallas police have not classified the incident as a hate crime, which is an outrage.
I asked Senior Cpl. Gerardo Monreal, the on-call spokesman for the Dallas Police Department, about this in an e-mail Sunday afternoon.
“Detectives are the only officers that can reclassify the offense,” Monreal said in his reply. “The motive was to take money.”
Monreal didn’t respond to a request for a telephone interview, which is strange given that he’s supposed to be the on-call spokesman for the department.
I’ve also been unable to get in touch with either of the two victims. One of the victims was 28-year-old Kyle Steven Wear, according to police reports. WFAA reported that the other victim goes by the name of Alex. Wear reportedly was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken jaw in the attack, which occurred at about midnight in the 2700 block of Throckmorton Street.
Based on Monreal’s statement to me, I’m guessing that officers who responded to the incident failed to classify it as an anti-gay hate crime, and it would be up to detectives to reclassify it. Under the federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act, local law enforcement is required to report to the FBI crimes that are motivated, “IN WHOLE OR IN PART,” by anti-gay bias. And one of the main criteria for determining bias is “oral comments” made by suspects during a crime. Read the FBI’s guidelines for hate crime data collection by going here.
7 Comments
I sure hope the police don’t drop the ball on this one.If it is not a hate crime-then what the hell are they going to call it?
I’m withholding judgment on the Dallas PD until Monday when the detectives weigh in-but I have a bad feeling about this…Thought Dallas had made more progress-sure hope so.
So I take it that the new police chief probably won’t be seen in any Pride Parade…..
Hardy Haberman makes a good point about positive action to prevent future attacks. Whether the attack is classified as a hate crime or not I want to know about the victims’ immediate health and recovery, the specific attackers being served justice and the prevention of future attacks.
I want to know what the business owners are doing about providing adequate, safe parking and sidewalks for their customers so future attacks are less likely. Expecting customers to park and walk through residential streets severely harmed the quality of areas like lower Greenville Avenue, Bachman Lake and Bishop Arts.
Good story and good link for “CRITERIA OF HATE CRIME” I see sevral matches, dont you?
https://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hatecrime.pdf
I do agree that the merchants association/community members should step it up a bit (all of us) to keep watch for everyone else. We have a lively community, and we’ve passed the days when we had to hide and no one outside “our world” ventured into our neighborhood. Today the strip is a mix of people from all backgrounds, including socio-economic. Tons of people spending tons of money. I’d love to see better lighting on the streets and more officers patrolling (although the budget crisis will almost certainly ensure the latter doesn’t happen). We have to watch out for one another though. We’ll see how this all unfolds. As for the reprint of one of the men’s names, I thought he’d asked his name not be withheld. Might be good to edit that out, DV.
Definitely a hate crime. Must be pursued and prosecuted as such. Here’s hoping the DPD does the right thing.
Thanks for these reports, John. i am outraged by the reluctance of local police to name and investigate this as a hate crime, too. It is eerily similar to a fatal Brooklyn baseball bat attack on Ecuadoran immigrant José Sucuzhañay. I have blogged about both crimes on my website, Unfinishedlivesblog.com.