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Officer Darlene Harris, LGBT liaison for the Atlanta Police Department, said she is investigating two recent incidents involving anti-gay violence.
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: RYAN LEE
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James Carter says he wanted to scream as five or six young men took turns kicking and punching him while he lay on the ground, but he was too afraid to call for help.
“I was scared to open my mouth because I didn’t want them to kick any of my teeth loose,” said Carter, a 29-year old gay man who was brutally attacked in Southwest Atlanta in the early hours of Oct. 22.
The incident took place five minutes south of downtown in Atlanta’s Mechanicsville neighborhood, outside the GE Tower apartment complex, which Carter described as popular with gay and lesbian residents. It is one of two weekend altercations that the Atlanta Police Department is investigating as possible hate crimes, according to Officer Darlene Harris, LGBT liaison for APD.
Just before midnight on Oct. 20, another gay man pulled into his apartment complex on Cheshire Bride and asked the drivers of two cars that were blocking the way to his parking space to move. After he parked, the gay man was confronted by one of the drivers, who allegedly yelled, “Faggot, you don’t tell me what to do.”
“I thought he was just coming to yell and be a jerk, but I didn’t think he would get physical about it,” said the gay man, who would be interviewed only on the condition that his name not be published.
The 28-year-old gay man said he wishes he responded more assertively, and because he didn’t, he is too embarrassed to tell friends and co-workers about the incident.
The driver allegedly continued to berate the man with anti-gay slurs, and pushed him to the pavement, causing scrapes on both of his hands. He then fled the scene in a black Mazda 3, offering Atlanta police their strongest evidence in the ongoing investigation, Harris said.
“Like the first case, we’re working off a car,” said Harris, who has interviewed the victims and witnesses in both incidents. Witnesses outside the GE Tower said the young men who beat Carter fled in a black Crown Victoria and a silver Chevy Impala, according to police reports.
The alleged anti-gay incidents came one week after the FBI released its hate crimes data for 2005. Georgia does not have a state hate crimes law, and law enforcement jurisdictions report hate crimes statistics to the FBI on a voluntary basis.
Nationally, sexual orientation ranked third on the list of most common motivations for hate crimes reported to the FBI [See related story, Page 15]. But sexual orientation ranked first among hate crimes reported in Georgia.
In the latest FBI data, three Georgia jurisdictions reported a total of 17 hate crimes, including 10 based on sexual orientation. Atlanta reported five total hate crimes, two based on sexual orientation; Fulton County reported four hate crimes, three based on sexual orientation; and the University of Georgia reported seven hate crimes, including five based on sexual orientation.
Carter, who has lived at the GE Tower since January, said he visited a nearby convenience store almost daily to pick up cigarettes, late-night snacks and other “forget-me-nots.” He and a friend, R’heem Turner, were returning from their second trip that night when they passed five or six young men just outside the GE Tower.
“As I’m thinking they’re walking past me, I feel a hit and they took off from there,” Carter said. “I just felt fist and feet from every direction, and that’s when I heard ‘Get yo faggot ass down,’ and ‘Bitch’ this, ‘bitch’ that.”
One of the young men, all of whom Carter described as being between 17 and 19 years old, allegedly pulled a gun on Turner and threatened him not to intervene. Turner, who is gay, was eventually pistol-whipped and lost consciousness.
As Carter continued seeing his blood splash before his eyes, and began to feel parts of his face already swelling, he said he kept wishing it was all apart of some horrific nightmare.
“I kept saying, am I going to wake up, because I didn’t believe it was happening,” Carter said. “I just didn’t want to die … I couldn’t think of anything else but getting me and my friend out of there.”
As they beat him, the young men took Carter’s shoes off and attempted to strip him of his pants, Carter said. Although they stole Carter’s shoes and wallet, along with Turner’s watch, earrings and wallet, Carter said he and Turner were attacked for being perceived as a gay couple.
“Being robbed seemed like it was after the fact,” said Carter, who added that gay and lesbian residents ...
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