Next time Ross Richardson wants to throw away his entire elite education and his future, trying adding “you dirty spic” or something equally terrible. Because now that he called a fellow George Washington University senior a “fucking fag” while beating him up, Richardson is on the hook for assault with significant bodily injury as a hate crime. Collected by police on Sunday at the school’s Ivory Tower, where he lives and where the alleged assault took place, Richardson apparently never even met the man he attacked, according to the unidentified victim, who spent a couple days in the hospital recovering from head trauma and brain bleeding. Also: The victim says he is a “a straight, white male.”
University Police Department officer Matthew Knight found the victim sitting on the ground with two witnesses when he arrived on scene shortly before midnight, according to the documents. One witness saw Richardson kick the victim in the stomach several times while the victim was on the ground, according to the documents. Another witness saw Richardson push the victim against a wall while punching him and calling him “fag” and “motherfucker” multiple times. The victim fell to the ground and Richardson punched him and walked away, but returned and kicked him again, according to the documents.
And just when the school was giving us warm fuzzies by implementing gender-neutral housing.
Kev C
I wonder if hate crimes such as this should be charged as sexual assault? Because the male attacker is using sexual langauge on a staight man, it could be a sexual assault. And many people don’t like the “hate crime” label, so they should charge the perp with sexual assault on a dude.
kernelt
@Kev C: that’s a great idea. Give a bad (perhaps worst) name and maybe they would stop if they don’t want to be called sexual assault with someone of the same gender (make them look like a closet pig).
Francis
If the facebook I saw is rightfully his, the Richardson dude seems insane. Obviously he is, as this occurred. I hate the whole cliche thing but this just screams “repressed closet case”. For someone to become so enraged and so angry, something obviously went off in his mind. Who knows, hopefully the entire story comes out. My well wishes go out to the victim.
Rick
I don’t mean to sound bitter but am I the only one that notices it’s easier for the police to call it a hate crime when the victim is a “straight white male”?
QuestionAll
I don’t think so, Rick. Crimes against straight white males, whether robberies or assaults or whatever, are never called “hate crimes”.
Devon
@Rick:
LOL WUT
This is the first time I’ve ever heard the authorities use the term hate crime in reference to a straight, white, male. Usually they act like that can’t happen.
Pete
DC cops, and especially Police Chief Cathy Lanier, are very gay friendly.
greenmanTN
If Richardson attacked the other guy because he perceived him to be gay, it’s still an anti-gay bias crime.
A year or so ago two brothers were attacked in NYC (the Bronx?) while walking home from a bar with their arms around each others’ shoulders for support because they’d had too much to drink. A car full of guys saw them, thought they were a gay couple, and attacked them, killing one of the brothers and putting the other one in the hospital. Even though both men were straight, they weren’t attacked for being brothers or because they were drunk, but because their attackers thought they were gay. Their attackers were charged with a Hate Crime. That they mistakenly targeted two straight brothers was irrelevant.
FWIW, the ring-leader of the men who attacked them did express remorse for his crime, once he found out they weren’t gay. He apologized for his mistake.
QuestionAll
True, GreenmanTN, it’s the intention that counts. If someone is attacked because the attacker sees him as gay, even if he’s not, it’s still a hate crime. It would only be a hate crime against a straight white male if he was attacked solely for being white or for being straight.
QuestionAll
And that’s the Sucuzhanay case. I think that was in…Brooklyn ?
Francis
Actually, that’s even more egregious, that he felt remorse because the brothers were straight. Basically a backhanded way of saying that if they were gay, they deserved being beaten.
Anyway, I’m just glad the attacker was caught here.
Shannon
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
TheRealAdam
@QuestionAll: I still wouldn’t call that a hate crime, if the person was attacked just for being straight and white. I’m not really sure you can legitimately call that a hate crime.
Bob
I know that last line was somewhat in jest, but obviously you can’t blame a whole university (full disclosure: my alma mater) for the actions of one crazy student.
Rick
@Devon: I should have been more specific in my comment. With all the hate crimes happening with LGBT people the police are very quick to say “We shouldn’t consider this a hate crime.” But the one time it happens to a “Straight White Male” they are all over it as a hate crime. For instance the transgender woman that was shot in the head and then had her body dragged 300 ft by a car. The police are not calling that a hate crime. I find it odd.