Nathaniel Salerno says he was assaulted on a Metro train last weekend after leaving the Dupont Circle area. He claims between four and seven young men repeatedly called him ‘faggot’ as they punched and kicked him.
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LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, December 14, 2007
Gay D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) said he is asking Metro subway authorities to review policies for investigating bias-related crimes after news surfaced this week that Metro transit police failed to classify a violent attack against a gay man in a subway car last Saturday as a hate crime.
Metro police revised their official report of the incident late Monday, listing it as a bias-related crime, after Nathaniel Salerno, the victim of the assault, told Channel 5 News in a broadcast interview that his attackers shouted anti-gay names at him as they punched and kicked him in a deserted subway car about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 8.
The decision to revise the report also took place after the D.C. police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit interviewed Salerno and exchanged information with Metro police, according to GLLU Officer Joe Morquecho.
Salerno, 25, a resident of Capitol Hill, told the Blade he was troubled that Metro police initially did not list the incident as a hate crime. He said he told three officers who assisted him at the Smithsonian station, where he exited the train, that between four and seven young men repeatedly called him “faggot” as they assaulted him.
Metro spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said Metro police filed their initial report after interviewing Salerno minutes after the incident, when he was shaken and bleeding and refused to be taken to a hospital by paramedics who arrived on the scene. Farbstein said Metro police were actively investigating the incident and would be using video images of some or all of the suspects recorded by cameras in the station to help identify the attackers.
Salerno said the incident began shortly after he entered an empty train car at Metro Center shortly after 1 a.m. while he was en route to the Eastern Market station on Capitol Hill. He had been traveling from Dupont Circle, where he had patronized some of the gay clubs. Salerno said between five and seven youths entered the train at the next stop and approached him and demanded his money seconds after the doors closed and the train left from what thinks was the Federal Triangle station. He said the assault began when he stood up to retrieve his wallet. The attackers grabbed his wallet and Blackberry cell phone while punching and kicking him, he said.
They fled the train at the Smithsonian station, and he chased after them, shouting at them as they ran past the station kiosk and up the escalator, Salerno said. He said the stationmaster, who apparently saw the youths running, called police.
“He told me they were clearly visible on the video cameras,” Salerno said, recounting what the stationmaster told him. Salerno said a friend drove him to a hospital the following day, where he received several stitches to treat facial cuts. A series of medical tests, including a CT scan, found no serious internal injuries, he said.
Farbstein said Metro police decided not to release photos of the suspects captured by the video cameras to the news media in the early stage of the investigation. Salerno said a detective working on the case told him Metro police planned to release the photos on Thursday if investigators were unable to identify the suspects at that time.
The detective said investigators were showing the photos privately to area schools and recreation centers in an effort to learn the identity of the suspects before they release the photos to the public, Salerno said. Salerno described his attackers as black males between the ages of 16 and 20.
Dennis Jaffe, a member of the Metro Riders’ Advisory Council, a citizens watchdog group, said he is concerned that Metro authorities might not have pursued the incident seriously if the news media and Graham had not made inquires. Graham, who is a member of the Metro board, said he planned to ask questions about the incident at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday.
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