Twelve college students have been charged with hate crimes after brutally assaulting a man in an off-campus apartment.
The Salisbury University students allegedly targeted and lured a man off campus so they could gang up on and beat him. They are being charged with assault, false imprisonment, and hate crimes, as authorities believe the assault occurred due to the victim’s sexuality.
One of the defendants created a fake Grindr dating app account of a 16-year-old boy to lure the victim to an apartment. The legal age of consent in Maryland is 16 in most cases, and the assault victim’s age is unclear.
Steve Rakow, an attorney for one of the defendants, claimed the attack was not driven by prejudice. “Let me just set the record straight—this is not a hate crime,” he stated in an email.
Rakow also claimed the victim didn’t report the incident because he knew he had been trying to sleep with a teenager. Instead, witnesses came forward after seeing a video of the beating.
The victim, on the other hand, alleged that “he never notified law enforcement of the attack in fear for his safety due to retaliation and being threatened by the attackers,” court documents say.
According to police, the 12 students forced the man onto a chair where they slapped, punched, kicked, and spit on him. They also called him derogatory names and kept him from leaving.
Salisbury University officials suspended all students involved and are now cooperating with law enforcement. They stated that the university “condemns all acts of violence.”
University President Carolyn Ringer Lepre also shared that she is creating a specific task force for LGBTQ+ inclusiveness.
“Our community is reeling from an act of visceral hate,” she said in a statement. “We are witnessing a campus filled with anguish that something so unspeakable could happen from within the community that we all love.”
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The post 12 College Students Charged in Hate Crime Attack After Luring Victim With Grindr appeared first on VICE.
