California police are investigating an alleged attack on a local gay man by four U.S. Marines as a possible hate crime.
CBS Los Angeles
reports that the victim, described only as a film student from San
Dimas, was beaten unconscious outside of Long Beach's Silver Fox Bar. "I
remember blacking out,” the victim, who did not want to disclose his
name or show his face on camera, recalled. After at least one of the men
started yelling homophobic epithets at him, the victim says he was
beaten by the four men, who are believed to be stationed at Camp
Pendleton: "All I remember is being put next to the curb."
The four men, Lance Cpl. Lewis Serna, Lance Cpl. John O'Leary, Pfc. Thomas Pentek and Pfc. Sean Miller were arrested for assault, but the attack reportedly remains under investigation as a hate crime. The Marines are reportedly also conducting an independent investigation into the assault, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
The bar's manager John Barnes confirmed to the Press-Telegram
that the four men came into the bar shortly before closing on Sunday or
early Monday and behaved strangely, even addressing Barnes as
"sweetheart" at one point.
"You could tell by the tone of his voice that he was uncomfortable,"
Barnes told the publication. "He was making a demeaning remark."
A spokesperson for Long Beach Police is quoted by a number of media outlets including Pink News as
saying, "Based on the preliminary investigation, it was determined that
an assault had occurred to a male adult by several male suspects after
they had left the establishment."
Having grown up around and having a partner who was in the Marine Corps, I can safely say, these Marines will wish they were just being handled by the local authorities, what the JAG's will do to them will make everything else seem like a holiday and I can assure them, they WILL face punishment under the UCMJ.
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