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October 15, 2011 in City
Police chief apologizes to gay man beaten outside bar
Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick apologized Thursday to Danny Hawkins, the gay man who was beaten last week in what he alleged was a hate crime.
“Hawkins did not feel he was fairly or respectfully treated or that his position was accurately portrayed by SPD PIOs (public information officers),” the Spokane Police Department said in a news release Friday. “It is always our goal to treat every citizen with respect and dignity,” the release said.
Hawkins, a gay rights advocate and board member of OutSpokane, was involved in a fight outside Dempsey’s Brass Rail on Oct. 7. He said the man he was fighting became more violent and shouted “homophobic slurs” after Hawkins told him he was gay.
Police said they will not refer the case to prosecutors for possible charges, however, because they did not find witnesses who heard those comments.
“My case has been closed,” Hawkins wrote in an email. “I do not believe justice was served, but understand why the police are closing it. The responding officers did not state the complete facts in their report so no further action can be taken.”
Corey Fortune, the treasurer of OutSpokane who attended the meeting with Hawkins and Kirkpatrick, said the police chief’s apology was “completely heartfelt. I felt compassion from her I didn’t expect. She wants to make sure that if there is an issue, that it is resolved properly.”
Hawkins’ primary complaints were that police told the media he was drunk and seemed to blame him for the attack. Kirkpatrick apologized for those statements and for officers’ seemingly “assigning fault to me,” Hawkins wrote.
Kirkpatrick and several other city officials met Thursday with members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Hawkins viewed the meeting as a good first step that “has opened a dialogue between the Spokane Police Department and the LGBT community.”
Those present discussed what steps to take if they felt they were the victim of a hate crime. “Hate crimes are happening in Spokane. This is a fact,” Hawkins wrote. “No one ever said that there is a gang of people coming after the LGBT community, but many of us are considered easier targets for violence.”
There are future meetings planned, Fortune said, adding, “We are working with the police, and they are working with us.”
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Orphan on October 15 at 7:28 a.m.
Why
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on October 15 at 8:59 a.m.
Notice they’re just apologizing for treating him like crap. That seems fair to me, on the surface at least. There’s clearly a disagreement on whether the case was handled properly, but the police are not apologizing for failing to meet Hawkins’ expectations in terms of assault &/or hate crime charges. If he is fully enough convinced that police showed an anti-gay bias, then — since he doesn’t appear to believe that he’s on solid enough ground for a lawsuit — it may be time for a social-justice campaign to open people’s eyes and educate the public (and the police) about what a hate crime is. Just as racism and sexism are turning out to be subtler and more difficult to eradicate than even the most well-meaning among us realized at first, homophobia goes deeper into the subconscious than most of us realize.
I wasn’t there and I’m not going to try to guess what “really” happened, but from what I’ve read it sounds quite plausible that there was some level of homophobia present in the police officers’ indifference to Mr. Hawkins’ case.
Welcome_Black_Carter on October 15 at 9:05 a.m.
He asked for what he got. Why is AK appologizing? Political pandering I imagine. Waste of time, if she wanted to make a public statement she should have said don’t be stupid and provoke violence…and you’ll be fine….and we are cutting “waste of time” announcements from our budgets because we are broke….etc…..
mthunderjet on October 15 at 9:07 a.m.
What a joke. Why? Worry about important things and spend police resources there. Political correctness makes me sick….
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on October 15 at 9:21 a.m.
The (mostly) tacit acknowledgement on these comment threads that disproportionate violence is appropriate is kind of interesting.
Shazamm on October 15 at 9:38 a.m.
Ugh…give me a break, Chief. By all accounts, he WAS drunk and initiated the fight. I agree…PC run amok.
crossfire on October 15 at 10:10 a.m.
I wonder if Chief K is applying for a job in San Francisco or something?
tobiasg on October 15 at 10:14 a.m.
Those who have no class (upset that the police apologized)…
Read carefully, the police released information in a way that appeared to make the victim appear in bad light. Certain details were stated which weren’t entirely true, such as perhaps other witnesses verified the attacker’s story, however this was not the case.
Clearly many of you are upset because a gay man was beaten and you feel he deserved it, without going into whether he “deserved” it or not, the apology is less about him being beaten but more about the release of information that was misleading.
Personally, I feel nobody “deserves” to be beaten, whether they slap a car to get the driver’s attention or not…but I guess I’m a bit more civilized and rational that most. But, that is not the reason for the article. Those of you that are upset are upset only because the victim is gay and because he claimed it was hate that caused the severe attack, so your motives for being upset are quite clear.
I think the police SHOULD apologize when they do things like this, when information is leaked in a poor manner or when statements are made that puts anyone in situation where they’re put into bad light if the evidence does not indicate such.
mthunderjet on October 15 at 11:57 a.m.
I don’t personally care if he was gay or not. He instigated the fight and got what he asked for plain and simple. If he doesn’t like to get slapped around maybe he should mind his business…and being drunk and mouthy doesn’t help.
mthunderjet on October 15 at 12:03 p.m.
The only thing the SPD should appologize for is sucking up and being PC. If they appologize to this kid then they should by all rights be making appologies to every other person in similar circumstances….which they do not do.
crossfire on October 15 at 1:04 p.m.
@mthunderjet
I wholeheartedly agree.
The gay gentleman instigated what happened to him. From the information I’ve seen it doesn’t appear the man in the car was looking to beat up a gay guy.
In my opinion for a hate crime to be considered they would have to show premeditation to commit a hate crime. Such as “I’ma lookin for some (insert gay reference here) to beat up”.
It doesn’t look like this was the case. This guy was drunk, obnoxious, and slapped someone’s car. Maybe the assault wasn’t right, but for the victim to yell hate crime just because he’s gay is an abomination.
The cops actually got this one right in my eyes and they have no reason to apologize. To do so makes them look weak to me.
To the guy that got his butt whipped… Take some responsibilty for your life. Stop getting drunk and out of control of your actions and grow up. Plain and simple.
crossfire on October 15 at 1:07 p.m.
@tobiasg
“Those of you that are upset are upset only because the victim is gay and because he claimed it was hate that caused the severe attack, so your motives for being upset are quite clear”
I’m sure the driver HATED having his car slapped by some random drunk guy. That’s the only hate that happened there.
AnalyzeThat on October 15 at 1:56 p.m.
The police in this town need voice activated cameras attached to their uniforms at all times when dealing with the public. Then maybe an apology wouldn’t be necessary.
On the flip side, since Hawkins started the incident, why did he tell the person he was fighting that he was gay? Sounds like he’s a perpetrator in more ways than one.
tobiasg on October 15 at 2:26 p.m.
My apologies, you’re right, he was asking to be beaten because he slapped a CAR!
You’re all uncivilized but hey, whatever makes you happy. I just hope someone treats you the way you treat others.
Orphan on October 15 at 2:39 p.m.
Tobiasg Hawkins got treated exactly the way he treated the guy that slapped him around. Do you really expect to abuse someone’s property and there be no repercussions?
I would say Hawkins got off light, try slapping a real bikers bike and see what happens.
SeeRed on October 15 at 3:03 p.m.
Reading these comments makes me glad I no longer call Spokane home. For the most part it still has the small town bigotry running as deep and strong as ever. The message board chest thumping of Spokane’s narrow minded never ceases to amaze me with comments such as “try slapping a real bikers bike and see what happens” and for Hawkins to “stop whining like a girly man.” Life in the 21st century is pretty nice, you should think about joining it.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on October 15 at 4:57 p.m.
Good thing he didn’t slap the guy’s HOUSE — according to the standards endorsed around here, that would have been grounds for justifiable homicide. Sheesh.
Dazzeetrader11 on October 15 at 6:35 p.m.
And just what would you have the city of Spokane do Red?
Since we do know who the perpetrator was, I wonder what would change? Nobody was arrested so apparently no law was broken.
I do wonder what anyone in law enforcement should have done differently? Two drunks in a bar…..happens all the time in regular bars too. How is this different. Looks like Dan hit or smacked or kicked the guys car. The driver gets out and clocks Danny.
How is thisunique to the gay complaintant? WHy would the Chief apologise for anything.
What would you do to change the response since you think somebody did something wrong. I’d like to know. Please respond..this isn’t a trap……I’d like to know what you think should have been done differently.
Orphan on October 15 at 6:41 p.m.
SeeRed We are glad you dont live here as well, sounds like a win win to me.
Hawkins got smacked the 1st time before the guy knew he was gay or did you forget that part. Then Hawkins informed the guy doing the beat down that he was gay, did he think that was going to save him?
Gay, straight, pink, black, whote or brown dont start stuff and stuff wont happen.
I guess I have to ask the question do you think because you are gay you should get a pass on abusing someones property?
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on October 15 at 7:07 p.m.
“Hawkins’ primary complaints were that police told the media he was drunk and seemed to blame him for the attack. Kirkpatrick apologized for those statements and for officers’ seemingly “assigning fault to me,” Hawkins wrote. ”
Dazzeetrader11 on October 15 at 7:33 p.m.
Oh you evil mens! Bow down and give specials rights to Danny! You’re just bein mean because Danny’s not like yous!!!
be tolerant when he hits your cars too! …you evil intolerant mens!!!
crossfire on October 15 at 9:27 p.m.
@tobiasg “My apologies, you’re right, he was asking to be beaten because he slapped a CAR!”
The car owner didn’t handle it the right way. He should have called the cops and said a drunk guy just hit his car. He should not have beat him down.
Danny is a coward for playing the HATE card. Like I said before there was no pre-meditation to beat down gay people in the assault. He was just reacting to someone hitting his personal property.
Danny got his butt kicked and to get back at his butt kicker he shouted HATE CRIME. I’m sure he figured that would get the guy in plenty of trouble.
In this town I’m not usually a LEO supporter .. they do more questionable things here than any other city I’ve lived. However, I do think they got this right.
Like I said, Danny needs to own up and check himself. Now’s the time to make changes. Stop the friggen drinking and doing irresponsible things that get him in trouble. And, stop the drama !!
CORRECT on January 13 at 3:06 p.m.
Good For Ann! Its not her fault…but Spokane has too many over zealous officers that are homophobic and want to “just arrest any gay man” or just “not be too involved in a case because somebody is gay”. Just because somebody is a police officer, doesnt make them immune to mistakes or above the law. The fact is, the police did not put forth all the facts, and in the process of it, put the department in a bad light.
Please not the case of alleged victim ROOK KELLY from December 27th 2011, where he accused a man of forcibly raping him after he and a man met at “Dempseys”. Rook claimed he was beaten and forced into sex.
But, after the police got caught trying to force the gay man into confessing to something he didnt do, Rook was shown to be a liar.
Rook Kelly was “a straight man” who claimed he was raped only after he didnt get his money he was trying to get out of the man he met at Dempsey’s.
ROOK KELLY HAD THE MAN ARRESTED and later let the case go only after the man was forced to plead down to “Voyeurism” because of the sex in a public place.
ROOK JOSEPH KELLY IS STILL AT LARGE!! GOING TO DEMPSEYS AND IRV’S LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED. I WONDER WHO IS NEXT??
Now, tell me, is that justice on the part of the Spokane County Sheriffs department? Or the DA’s office?? Police need to use better discretion rather than being “A wannabe Victor” in every case they come across without using “discretion”
CORRECT on January 13 at 3:10 p.m.
Let me clarify…the case was on December 27th 2010. Rook Kelly claimed rape after meeting a man at Dempseys and then trying to extort the man for money.