New Year’s came to a violent end for two Santa Barbara men who were savagely beaten because their assailants thought they were gay.
The unnamed pair were walking to their car at about 1:45am Sunday morning when they were confront by three strangers—all white men in their 20s with shaved heads. One of these apparent skinheads made a homophobic remark, then all three began punching the victims—one of whom escaped with minor injuries, the other of whom had his jaw broken and suffered serious head trauma. Though the incident was caught on camera, the three assailants are still at large.
“Hate crimes like these will not be tolerated and those responsible will be held accountable,” Police Chief Cam Sanchez told reporters at a press conference Wednesday.
Source: Santa Barbara Independent via Towleroad
Ian Bower
And I thought Santa Barbara was such a civilsed place. Terrible.
n900mixalot
@Ian Bower: It isn’t. I grew up there and there have always been VERY active white supremacist groups there.
MEJ
Who was videotaping the assault?
TASTEY GOODIES
DO GLBT FOLK HAVE 2 RESORT 2 HAVING BODY GUARDS, WEAPONS, ATTACK DOGS, ETC JUST 2 GO OUT IN PUBLIC? SOOOOOO SAD AND SOO SCARY!
Alexis
Santa Barbara is rampant with homophobia. Even straight guys who dare to wear something “stylish” to a bar there are likely to get harassed for being gay. I grew up there and I love the place, but it’s pretty gross in this respect.