Gay Student Alleges Assault

An openly gay undergraduate was allegedly assaulted as he walked on Bow Street Friday night by a man yelling homophobic epithets, in what the victim is calling a hate crime.

The victim, Galo Garcia III ’05, was on his way to the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) “Inappropriate” party at Adams House with six of his friends when the assailant reportedly slowed down his vehicle and called Garcia a “faggot Jew.”

“I had my arm around a guy,” a still-rattled Garcia told The Crimson minutes after the attack. “These guys were looking for a parking space and they yell ‘faggot’ from the window.”

Garcia said that he approached the car upset, yelling back that these slurs were inappropriate, when the driver exited his vehicle and began to deliver repeated blows to Garcia’s head and chest. The driver had been riding with a male passenger, who Garcia said did not intervene in the tussle but was restrained by his friends.

“All I really remember is a blur of punches and that I was thrown against the wall,” said Garcia. “And then the police came.”

While the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) did not arrest the suspect, Garcia said he will press charges of committing an assault and committing a hate crime.

“Anytime someone victimizes someone else because of their sexuality, it’s a heightened crime under Mass. general law,” HUPD Spokesman Steven G. Catalano said. “What you’re investigating is to determine whether the offender is using the person’s sex, race, religion as a motivating factor. There are some instances when someone will say a slur during the course of a crime but that doesn’t make it necessarily a hate crime.”

Quincy resident tutor Juan L. Peña said he was on his way to the party when he heard the commotion and called HUPD.

At approximately 12:25 a.m., police received a call of an assault in progress, according to Catalano.

He added that the alleged assailant had left by the time police arrived but soon returned to the scene. Upon his return, the responding officers questioned and identified the suspect but did not arrest him.

“He wasn’t arrested because the assault and battery was a misdemeanor and did not occur in the officer’s presence,” said Catalano. “He was never in custody.”

Under Mass. general law, HUPD cannot release the name of the suspect, but Catalano did confirm that he was not a Harvard affiliate.

Garcia said yesterday the two men were white, had larger builds than he does, had Bostonian accents, and appeared to be in their mid to late 20s.

“I’m just still shocked,” said Garcia. “I have bruises, my head was swollen, and I’m still sore. Even with the physical pain, I still can’t believe that it happened—it just seems very surreal.”

Catalano said HUPD and the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) will walk Garcia through the court system and assist him in pressing charges. The investigation will be a joint effort between CPD and HUPD.

If Garcia can make the case that these attacks were motivated by his sexuality, then the assailant will be charged with a hate crime as well as an assault. Garcia said that the attackers used a series of slurs, including ones defaming Jews, although he said he is not Jewish and only one of the friends who was with him that night is Jewish.

Julien E. Levy ’05, who was walking with Garcia when the incident occurred, said the attacker threatened to follow them to their dorm to make sure that they did not call the police.

“They were drunk,” Levy said Friday night. “They had been drinking—they [just] weren’t drinking enough to be drunk legally.”

Another witness and friend, Daniyom F. Haile ’05, denounced the incident as a hate crime moments after the assault.

“It’s sad that homophobia can still occur in the Harvard community,” he said. “It’s especially sad that it happened on pre-frosh weekend.”

BGLTSA Spokesman Michael A. Feldstein ’07 said that although this is the first reported account of a hate crime on campus this year, it is in no way indicative of the frequency of hate crimes at Harvard.

“This is not anything Harvard is exempt from, nor is it exclusive to Harvard,” said Feldstein, who is also a Crimson editor.

The BGLTSA discussed the issue at its weekly meeting yesterday, and members decided to hold an anti-hate rally tomorrow at noon in front of the Science Center in honor of those who have felt hate in response to their sexual orientation, according to an e-mail sent to House open lists.

“The goal in mind is that people become aware of what happens around them,” he said. “That they are aware, in a place that is supposed to be safe, and that people question that safety.”

—Staff writer Robin M. Peguero can be reached at peguero@fas.harvard.edu.