This report contains offensive language.
FORT WORTH -- An attack on two gay men last month outside a southwest Fort Worth apartment complex is now being investigated as a possible hate crime, an investigation that some say should have started earlier.Jason Sanches, 31, said he and his partner, Ray Easley, were attacked by several men shortly after 2 a.m. May 24 as the two men and Sanches' sister walked to their apartment from a Shell gas station at 4600 S. Hulen St."As they were coming after us, they said something about, 'They're [expletive] faggots anyway. Get 'em! Get 'em!" Sanches said.Sanches said that he was hit and that both he and Easley were shocked with a stun gun during the assault. Sanches said he suffered broken and chipped teeth and three hairline fractures in the bottom of his left eye socket.Sanches said he contacted Fort Worth police officer Sara Straten, the department's liaison to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, because he was concerned that the department was not taking the assault seriously.Lt. Paul Henderson, a police spokesman, said the department's major-case unit took over the investigation of the case as a hate crime Monday after reviewing a supplemental report by Straten that included all the detailed information provided by Sanches."Hate crimes are one of the absolute worst crimes to be a victim of because it's a random act where anyone can be a target," Henderson said. "We take them very seriously and are extremely sensitive to not only the victim but also the community at large."Tom Anable, president of Fairness Fort Worth, said Tuesday that he is troubled by the department's handling of the case and has requested an investigation into the assault by the FBI.Among Anable's concerns is that officers did not include the derogatory terms in their initial report and that the case was not assigned earlier for investigation as a potential hate crime. "It's clear to me, based on what I know, the officers on the scene downplayed the report," he said."It's unfortunate that after all the progress we've made, an incident like this has to come back to Fairness Fort Worth and we have to call the FBI," said Anable, referring to the changes that have been made since a controversial inspection of the Rainbow Lounge, a gay bar, two years ago.Mark White, an FBI spokesman, said Tuesday that he could not confirm or deny whether an investigation is ongoing, but Anable said a special agent handling the investigation contacted him within hours of his request.ConfrontationSanches said that he, Easley and Sanches' sister had walked to the Shell station to buy gum. Outside the store, he said, were six men and a woman whom he had previously seen trying to sell drugs in the parking lot.As the three were walking into the store past the group, Sanches said, one of the suspects used the slur. He said the trio ignored the group.When the three left the store and walked across the street to their apartment, he said, the men began repeatedly yelling the slur and "get 'em.""As they got closer, one of them approached and asked if I was talking ... to his homegirl," Sanches said.When Sanches asked who the girl was, the suspect answered, "The Asian girl at the store."Sanches said he told the man that he had not seen an Asian girl at the store and was suddenly shocked on his side with a stun gun.Sanches said he blacked out but was later told by his sister that another man hit Sanches, causing him to fall to the pavement.Easley was also shocked with the stun gun, according to a police report.The assailants fled to the store after a security guard at the apartment complex heard a commotion and shined his flashlight at the men. The sister told police that the men fled in a red Dodge Stratus.Handling of the caseAnable questioned why the attack was not initially classified as an aggravated assault.Henderson said offenses can be elevated to aggravated assaults once investigators review medical records.He also noted that officers take down the initial details of an offense but that detectives conduct the more in-depth investigation.Henderson said that after the major-case unit's initial review, in which the case did not appear to rise to the level of a potential hate crime, Straten was asked to supplement the police report with the information she had received from Sanches."Upon secondary review of the narrative that included all of the detailed information provided by the victim, major case has taken the lead in the investigation as a hate crime," he said."Whether or not it's prosecuted as a hate crime is up to the district attorney's office."Deanna Boyd,817-390-7655Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
