Eight months after Aaron Price allegedly beat a fellow Morehouse College student for glancing at him in a shower, raising questions about homophobia on campus, two students were arrested on charges stemming from an incident that began with anti-gay taunts. (Photo by Sher Pruitt)
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Jul 04, 2003  |  By: RYAN LEE  | COMMENTS |   |  

Two Morehouse College students were arrested June 23 following an alleged anti-gay incident in front of the school’s cafeteria.

Justin Dolly, 20, and Juan Smith, 22, were both charged with disorderly conduct, according to campus police reports. Smith, who is gay, was also charged with making terroristic threats.

The incident comes on the heels of Georgia’s first hate crimes trial, in which former Morehouse student Aaron Price was accused of beating a classmate he perceived to be gay with a baseball bat.

Price was convicted of aggravated assault and aggravated battery June 11, but a Fulton County Superior Court jury ruled the attack was not motivated by anti-gay bias.

Following the November 2002 attack, students and gay rights activists accused Morehouse of fostering a homophobic environment and ignoring harassment accusations. Since then, officials at the historically black, all-male school say they have taken steps to address homophobia and intolerance on campus, including preparing a yet-to-be-released Blue Ribbon report.

According to the police report obtained from the Morehouse campus police, Smith and a friend were walking across campus when they encountered a group of young men standing outside the cafeteria.

“As [Smith and his friend] passed by them, the boys began to jeer and jester towards them, stating things like, ‘Oh my God, that dude’s gay!’ and ‘faggot’ and ‘fruit ass nigger,’” Morehouse Lt. Dovetta Davidson wrote in the report. “[Smith] became very angry and upset as he walked over to [where] the group of young men were standing, stating, ‘What the fuck did you say?’”

In an interview, Dolly acknowledged laughing as his friends mocked Smith, but said Smith responded by pulling a gun from the bag he was carrying and threatening Dolly with it.

“He had slits in his jeans, he was wearing stilettos and was carrying a purse,” Dolly told Southern Voice. “Some comments were made about his clothes, and I was just laughing — he looked kind of silly to me.

“He kind of directed all of his anger toward me,” Dolly said. “He walked up to me with a gun and put it up to my stomach, and was like, ‘You don’t want to fuck with me.’”

Smith did not respond to calls requesting comment about the incident, but did tell Morehouse police his version of the incident.

“ Juan explained that one of the boys came up to him as if he were going to get physical with him,” the police report said. “At that time, he removed his scarf and sunglasses and opened his bag to put them inside, and … Dolly saw what he thought was a handgun.”

Morehouse police became involved with the episode when they received a call from Eric Chism, who said he saw a young man, later identified as Smith, on campus carrying a gun. Chism was initially identified by Morehouse police as a staff member who witnessed the incident.

Chism was later identified as a Morehouse alumnus in town from California to mourn the death of former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, a fellow graduate of the college. He did not return calls seeking comment.

After receiving Chism’s call, Morehouse police began searching a parking deck on campus, and were told by employees taking a smoking break that two men went to the deck’s second level, according to the police report. The police sealed the exits and found Smith and his friend on the second level.

“When asked if they were involved in an altercation near the cafeteria, Juan immediately tried to explain that there were several young men hassling him,” according to the police report. The two men were then taken into custody, read their Miranda rights and asked about the alleged gun.

“After the interview continued with Juan, he admitted that there was a gun, but it was a prop (toy) that he used in a runway show,” the police officer’s report said. “Juan then took me to the location where he hid the gun (second level of the parking deck, in the trash can, under the liner).”

Dolly and Smith had an initial court appearance in Fulton County Magistrate Court on June 30.