Police in Washington, D.C. have arrested a suspect in connection with the brutal beating of a Chinese-American, gay man and his parents in a frightening hate crime near the National Cathedral.
Patrick Joseph Miller Trebat, 38, now faces one count of Felony Assault, two counts of Simple Assault, and one count of Destruction of Property in connection with the attack.
The attack occurred the night of August 7. Dr. Sean Lai, 30, who completed his doctorate in physics at Georgetown University last year, escorted his parents down the street in DC’s Observatory Circle neighborhood around 10:30 pm. Trebat began following the trio before shouting “f*ggots” and “You are not Americans.” He then began beating Lai’s mother, age 51, and the father, age 64; the names of both parents have been withheld due to privacy concerns.
Lai’s mother told police that Trebat struck her husband in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. Trebat then pushed Lai’s mother to the ground. At that point, Sean Lai tried to intervene, and a struggle ensued between he and Trebat. All three victims suffered serious injuries, and later received treatment at a nearby hospital.
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Though investigators have not formally charged Patrick Trebat with a hate crime at the time of this writing, they emphasize that they have not ruled out possible hate crime charges in the future. Court documents also show that Trebat targeted the Lai family based on their race; it remains unclear if the attacker knew Lai was actually gay.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is continuing to investigate the facts and circumstances of the case and has no further comment at this time,” U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson William Miller told the Washington Blade.
The attack on the Lai family comes amid a spike in attacks on Asian Americans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a rash of hate crimes against gay men worldwide. Earlier this year, an attack on Asian American-run massage parlors in Atlanta claimed the lives of six women. In June, an attacker stabbed a 20-year-old gay man in the back aboard the Staten Island Ferry. That same month, police in Washington DC arrested a man wielding a machete and threatening a group of gay men as they dined outdoors.
CatholicXXX
Sounds more like an anti-asian hate crime.
Cam
Considering he was calling them Fa**ots the entire time why are you trying to excuse him from one of the two hate crime charges?
Kevan1
There is no excuse throw Trebat in jail and throw away the key. I want to know what part of this is not a hate crime. Such BS.
JRamonMc
There is only one person to blame for all this hatred towards the Asian community and his ass is who should be under the jail. There is no excuse for the signaling out of nothing but good people, working just as hard to get by as everyone of us. My sincere sympathy to the Lai family for what they all endured that evening by a complete lunatic in what surely was a hate crime.
Kangol2
Sounds like a clear-cut case of anti-Asian and anti-gay hate-motivated violent assault, so charge Trebat and convict him!
Openminded
Calling a gay asian man a fa**ot and not American, and they are still having to investigate to determine if it was a hate crime? I guess they will spend a month or two before determining if the attacker was drunk or on drugs also.
Hank31
FIRST Trebat followed them. THEN he hurled racial abuse at them THEN he struck the father in the head. THEN he pushed the mother to the ground. According to the article, it was only “at that point” that Sean Lai tried to intervene. What on Earth was he waiting for?
Is this yet another example of a gay man who is paralyzed with fear and can’t defend himself or others? Recall last week’s story about 2 married guys in Edinburgh who were attacked. According to the media report which quoted a witness, neither one fought back, even though their spouse was in danger. After the attackers ran off, one of these supposed “men” from Edinburgh ran into the arms of a female witness and cried into her bosom like a baby girl.
This is the product of a toxic gay subculture which promotes effeminacy and denigrates masculinity.
rickywintour
Oh please stop acting like your so tough lol. I bet you got bullied in school now you run around thinking your so macho and manly. I’m effeminate as hell and bet I could whoop your behind. So back up what you say because a lot of y’all masculine types are the most soft and only got muscles with nothing else to show.
Cam
@Hank31
The right wing troll account under one of it’s screenames, as always trying to deflect blame away from violent bigots and onto the LGBTQ people attacked.
The pathetic part here is that the son jumped in to defend his parents, but the Republican troll had to lie about that part so it could make it’s little statement.
We get it troll, you’re here, as always, to defend bigots and to attack LGBTQ people.
Hank31
@rickywintour Fortunately, nothing you said about me is accurate. But even if were 100% accurate, it wouldn’t invalidate, or even respond to, anything in my original comment.
Thad
You’re blaming the victims. That’s NEVER OK.
Invader7
@ Hank31 : Troll….. Who appointed you judge & jury ? That’s right you. Defending a FELONIOUS criminal. You’re so apparent . Your amateurish right wing take on those FELONIOUS crimes doesn’t say much about you. Besides the rest of us on this site know you’re a troll bot !!!
LegionKeign
When you are attacked, especially if its never happened to you before, your body and mind does some crazy things.
If your willing and able to fight back, I am 100% behind you, and I do think our community is going to have to toughten-up, it sucks, but its life.
But not everyone is built that way. I was always the biggest kid in school, effeminate a bit and weird, so I got knocked around, sexually assaulted and terrorized by the other kids & teachers.
I wouldn’t run, but I would not fight back.
That was until I was 18 and had the gayest fight with a straight dude 5 years older and made him run off.
After that…well, things are much different. I’m 52 400lbs 6′ 2″ facial tattoos and a can be a real pr*ck!
Hank31
There is a real phenomenon — which has been studied by social scientists and psychologists and which has been the subject of published research — called de-feminization. Would you say that you de-feminized after high school, not just in terms of your appearance but in terms of your personality?
fredk3
can’t trust the law to punish criminals. if anyone comes at me, it’s not going to end well.