Blinking While Gay

[marmar]

Savannah, GA — Two marines arrested Saturday in Savanna, Georgia on charges they battered a gay man may also face federal charges, the Savannah Morning News reported.

The FBI has reportedly launched a preliminary investigation into whether federal charges as a hate crime should be pursued in the case.

The men, both stationed at Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, S.C., were arrested by Savanna police about 4AM Saturday morning and booked on a misdemeanor charge of battery. Their bond was set at $1,850. The men were later released to Marine police, who are also considering charges.

Responding to a call, police found 26-year-old Kieran Daly laying motionless on the ground as friends performed first aid. Witnesses said Daly was attacked because he is gay.

Moments earlier, police had witnessed two men matching the description of the attackers running on Congress Lane. According to a police report, officers caught up with Keil Joseph Cronauer, 22, and Christopher Charles Stanzel, 23, after they had climbed into a fenced-off parking lot off Congress Lane. Cronauer told police they "were being harassed by a white homosexual male earlier in the evening and just wanted to get away and meet their friend on Bay St." But Stanzel said "he was going to meet a friend on River St."

Witnesses told police that one of the men grew angry because he thought Daly was winking at him. He struck Daly in the back of the head with his fist, knocking him unconscious. Daly, who was released from the hospital Sunday, was diagnosed with bruises to the brain and suffered seizures from the attack. Doctors have advised Daly, a truck driver, not to return to work.

Daly claims his attacker yelled anti-gay slurs at him as he tried to walk away from an argument with Cronauer over whether Daly was coming on to the marine.

Local gay activists are planning to hold a rally on Sunday at Johnson Square in Savannah near where Daly was struck. Activists say the crime warrants more than misdemeanor charges.

"This is just the most recent example of violence that occurs on our streets as a result of people being just who they are," Kevin Clark, a board member of Georgia Equality who directs its Savannah chapter. "It is just laughable that an attack as brutal as this could be classified as a misdemeanor. It is a felony. It is absurd that professional people could label this attack as a misdemeanor. That is the root of my deepest anger."


http://www.chicagopride.com/news/article.cfm/articleid/11339316

[chillspike]

1. Stephen Colbert recently featured

a guy who went around giving police officers the finger. He said he did it on principle because it was his constitutional right to free speech. He has been stopped before and questioned but never assaulted by police for his little stunt.

Kind of puts the excuses of these two homophobes into perspective, doesn't it?

[Roon]

4. I got handcuffed once for yelling "fuck you" to a cop

Long story..anyway, I knew I didn't do anything wrong and cussed him out and called him and his mother every name in the book while I sat in the back of the cruiser.
I demanded that his supervisor come to the scene and when he showed up was about the time I was cleared from any warrants. I got both of the cops' cards and they took the cuffs off and let me go. I flipped them both off and left the scene.

My little brother is an attorney and he says I am very lucky I didn't end up downtown in jail. I don't think so.

[chillspike]

6. A relative of mine once flipped the bird while driving to an off-duty cop

The cop was in his civilian car and clothes so my relative couldn't have known. The cop stopped my relative and was going to drag him out of the car and beat the shit out of him (or so it seemed) but my relative's mother (who also was in the car) pleaded with the officer to not do anything and so he didn't.

[Dr Morbius]

7. I am inclined to agree with your brother.

Judges, you see, are much more inclined in my experience to believe a police officer than a mere citizen. I'm not suggesting they may have had any right or any valid reason for arresting you; rather that it's never a good idea to piss off a cop. Not all police officers are honorable.

[chillspike]

10. I never said it was my brother

I only said it was my relative. How did you know it was my brother?

[Dr Morbius]

12. You wrote that "your little brother is an attorney and..."

To this, I was responding!

[pinboy3niner]

2. K&R

:kick:

[CBR]

3. K&R

How long will they go to jail if charged with felony? The longer the better.

[aikoaiko]

5. The reaction in Savannah is mixed but a majority of local folks support the victim

Right now the charges are only misdemeanors but hopefully the Feds may step in or at least the Marine Corps may decide to make an example out of them.

[pinboy3niner]

8. That's a good sign

With DADT a hot issue now, the military ought to come down HARD on these bozos to demonstrate a commitment to zero tolerance for homophobic violence.

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[bigwillq]

11. Kick

Wanted to rec, said I couldn't.