Gay Rights Group Says El Paso PD Not Trained For Hate Crimes; Police Disagree

Dan82 · May 14, 2011

http://www.kvia.com/news/27890787/detail.html

A young man remains in critical condition after being severely beaten outside a gay night club last weekend. Thursday, police detained a 16-year-old boy for the beating and said the assault was gang-related and not a hate crime.

Gay rights advocates disagree and accuse the El Paso Police Department of failing to classify the crime as a hate crime.

Police said the investigation into the beating of 22-year-old Lionel Martinez found the suspects were gang members.

Police also said the assault does not meet the criteria of a hate crime because it wasn't motivated by a bias against gays.

National and local gay rights advocates said it doesn't matter if the suspects are in a gang. What should matter, according to them, is that Martinez was targeted because he was coming out of a gay club.

"They have not worked well with the gay community almost to the point that they're a very bigoted organization," said Daniel Rollings, chair of the El Paso chapter of Parents, Friends, and Families of Lesbians and Gays...

http://www.kvia.com/news/27890787/detail.html
Click to expand...

Gay Rights Group Says El Paso PD Not Trained For Hate Crimes; Police Disagree

Dan82 Full Member

Dan82
Full Member