MSU Student's Mouth Stapled Shut In Horrific Hate Crime

[eggplant]

Zachary Tennen, a 19-year-old sophomore at Michigan State University, was at an off-campus party when two college-aged men approached him and demanded to know if he was Jewish.

When Zachary said he was, the men made a Hitler salute, said they were part of the Ku Klux Klan, and beat him unconscious, breaking his jaw in the process.

While he was knocked out, one of them stapled the boy’s mouth shut while guests at the party watched. No one intervened or called the police – instead, the other guests kicked Zachary out of the house the moment the 19-year-old came to.

Zachary is scheduled for surgery this week, but his trials are far from over. As East Lansing police try to find the men who assaulted him, department spokesmen claim they don’t believe the attack was a hate crime, and are refusing to investigate it as such.

Zachary’s father Bruce is trying to contact the Anti-Defamation League and the FBI regarding the attack, to see if their intervention can make East Lansing take the assault seriously. Please, join us in calling on ADL Director Abraham Foxman and the Bureau’s Civil Rights Division to look into this case, now.

http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/1399

[Brickbat]

1. According to news stories, winesses' accounts differ from his.

[JI7]

2. they don't believe it's a hate crime ?

the only way i can see that is if they don't believe what he said happened.

[Brickbat]

4. Witnesses have described the scene differently than the victim does.

[jsr]

3. "Witnesses haven’t confirmed Tennen’s account"

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/viewart/20120906/NEWS06/309060061/Police-finish-probe-Michigan-State-student-Zachary-Tennen-s-assault

EAST LANSING — Police say they have completed their investigation into an assault on a Michigan State University student who claimed he was punched and had his jaw broken after revealing he’s Jewish.

East Lansing police Capt. Jeff Murphy says the department’s findings in the Aug. 26 attack on sophomore Zach Tennen were submitted to the Ingham County prosecutor’s office on Thursday.

According to Murphy, the report includes statements from more than 40 witnesses and identifies one suspect, an 18-year-old Farmington Hills man.

Murphy says witnesses haven’t confirmed Tennen’s account that he was hit after revealing his religion. Tennen has said it was “shameful” that such “religious hatred exists in our country.”

[NYC_SKP]

5. Assault plus hate crime, five to ten. nt

[spanone]

6. de facto hate crime.

[onenote]

7. This story is a month old and has been debunked

Even the Anti-Defamation League now agrees it wasn't a "hate crime" and that witness interviews do not support the claims.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/zachary-tennen-hate-crime-attack_n_1891512.html?ref=topbar

[Hestia]

8. Maybe it wasn't technically a hate crime but how can people just stand around and watch someone get

the holy crap beat out of them, and allow them to staple another person's lips shut?

[onenote]

9. If that was what had happened, that would be a good question

But apparently it isn't what actually occurred.

[struggle4progress]

10. ... Police said Tennen got into a confrontation with two men in front of a house

in the 500 block of Spartan Avenue, as most of the guests were hanging out in back. Tennen's family initially said someone stapled his gums, and although a witness saw him remove a staple from his mouth, police said it's unclear how it got there - and it didn't appear related to the assault ...

Prosecutor: Attack on MSU student not a hate crime
1:41 PM, Sep 18, 2012
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/225721/14/Attack-on-MSU-student-not-a-hate-crime

[undergroundpanther]

12. WTF???

It IS a glaringly obvious hate crime,where did this prosecutor come from Germany circa 1940? Or is he THAT stupid/ignorant/racist himself?

[Indpndnt]

14. Read the Huffington Post link a few posts up. The ADL cleared this too. Tennen lied.

One 18 year old punched him. No stapling. No hatred for Jews. Nothing. The kid lied.

[Major Nikon]

15. The ADL doesn't seem to think so

So it may not be as glaringly obvious as you might think.

[undergroundpanther]

20. Why would he lie

What a stupid kid.He needs to be shown why you don't lie about hate crimes.

[Major Nikon]

21. I serioiusly doubt he'll ever do it again

His name is now associated with douchbaggery and he may be looking at criminal charges.

[struggle4progress]

22. Dunno: all I've got is news reports:

Anti-Defamation League officials say attack on MSU student not a hate crime
10:37 PM, September 14, 2012
... “Based on interviews with more than 50 witnesses who were at the party that night, the East Lansing Police have apparently concluded that while the student was a victim of a serious physical assault, the evidence does not support his claim that the assault involved anti-Semitic hate speech or gestures, nor does it indicate that the incident was motivated by his religion.” ... http://www.freep.com/article/20120914/NEWS/120914088/Anti-Defamation-League-officials-say-attack-MSU-student-not-hate-crime

Attack on Jewish Michigan State University student not a hate crime, police say
August 30, 2012 12:59 PM
... While police do not dispute that Zachary Tennen was seriously injured early Sunday, witnesses interviewed by detectives have not confirmed Tennen's account that he was attacked after revealing he's Jewish, East Lansing police Capt. Jeff Murphy said. Police also say they have no evidence of Tennen's claim that his mouth was stapled by his attackers, Capt. Murphy said ... www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57503483-504083/attack-on-jewish-michigan-state-university-student-not-a-hate-crime-police-say/

No stapler seen in assault of MSU student, witnesses tell cops
August 30, 2012
... East Lansing Police Capt. Jeff Murphy said that while witnesses saw 19-year-old Zachary Tennen of Franklin get punched and pull a piece of metal from his mouth afterward, no witnesses have confirmed any evidence of a hate crime or that anyone had a stapler, which Tennen said was used to staple his gums ... http://www.freep.com/article/20120830/NEWS05/308300236/No-stapler-seen-in-assault-of-MSU-student-witnesses-tell-cops?odyssey=nav|head

[Indpndnt]

13. Apparently, he got punched once and there was no stapling. Fifty witnesses gave statements.

Even the ADL says it wasn't motivated by his religion. The kid lied. He had a confrontation with one 18 year old kid, not two skinheads.

[Major Nikon]

16. Sounds like he got drunk and let his aligator mouth overload his canary ass

Then after someone handed his ass to him, he tried to claim it was a hate crime to stir up shit against his rival. Hard to imagine a teenager would come up with something like this.

[Indpndnt]

17. Or he didn't have the cash to pay the ER to fix his jaw. Lots of $$ for that.

The charges had to go through insurance and parents would find out. Oops! Gotta come up with a good story. Dad's an attorney. Need a really good story! And this is what came out.

[TalkingDog]

18. Actually when I was in grad school, a frat watched a girl get the hell beat out of her

for refusing a guys' pass and as she lay bleeding and unconscious on the sidewalk, told her friend to get her off the property and onto the sidewalk or they would call the cops and have them arrested for trespassing.

The girl was in hospital for a week with various broken bones. When she got home the harassing phone calls started, dozens of times an hour warning her to keep her mouth shut. Frat brothers approached her in the dining hall and other places on campus.

The police questioned the frat bothers who, to a man, denied everything.

Luckily for her her dad was an FBI agent. Seems this particular frat brother had been kicked out of a couple of different schools for exactly the same behavior. Mommy and Daddy bought the other girl's silence with their wads of wealth.

The girl's FBI Dad had phone calls traced back to several rooms in the frat house.

I left school soon after, so I didn't hear what became of the girl or the monster who beat her. But the other boys in the house were just as guilty, so I hope every one of them got their asses kicked out of school.

Unfortunately, not everybody has those kind of resources.

[Orrex]

19. I'd be interested to read more about the case you've described

Can you provide more specific info? What school, for instance? And when it occurred?

A terrible story, and those who attacked the young woman should be exposed in the light of day.



Thanks in advance.

[TalkingDog]

24. Ohio University Athens, 1996.

There may be a news article somewhere in the deep archives of The Athens News or The Messenger, but they are a small papers so..... good luck.

[Orrex]

25. Thanks for the info

I hope that the assholes were held responsible and will research further.

[undergroundpanther]

11. thats horrible

poor Zack I hope these racist pieces of shit pay for what they did.

[cthulu2016]

23. Anti-Defamation League officials say attack on MSU student not a hate crime

He was assaulted, no doubt about that.

But his mouth was not stapled shut and the attackers didn't do the Klan/Nazi stuff claimed.

He made it up.


http://www.freep.com/article/20120914/NEWS/120914088/Anti-Defamation-League-officials-say-attack-MSU-student-not-hate-crime