Editor's note: the identity of some sources was kept confidential for thier protection.
A Whitworth student was assaulted and injured this weekend near campus, most likely because of his sexual orientation.
"The assault was motivated by hate based on sexual orientation, and resulted in injury," Kathy Storm, vice president for Student Life, wrote in a campus wide e-mail on Tuesday, April 21. "That such an attack would take place concerns us deeply."
Incident
The incident occurred Saturday, April 18 between 7:30 and 8 p.m. The student was riding his bike on Wellen Street about a block away from campus, near Jack in the Box, with a male and female friend. The male friend, who witnessed the incident, said as the group was riding down West Graves Road when a car drove up behind them and started honking. The group pulled their bikes over to the side of the road to let the car pass.
They then biked onto Wellen Street and saw the car had braked and was in reverse, which prompted them to begin riding faster. The witness said he thought the victim recognized the people in the vehicle since he stopped his bike in a driveway. The male driver proceeded to get out of his car. Another man stayed in the vehicle during the attack.
According to the police report, the driver of the vehicle accused the victim of spitting on his car.
The witness said the man went up to the victim shouting things like "f-----g homos" and "faggot" and punched him in the face. The man then started chasing the witness down the street, but then turned and returned to the victim.
"I saw [the man] kick him and I yelled that we didn't want any problems and to stop. He came at me again, and I got away," the witness said.
The witness said the man then got back into his car and continued yelling at him and the victim.
The victim was transported to Holy Family hospital, according to the report.
The incident was reported to the Spokane Police Department around 9:30 p.m.
Suspects
The suspect is a white male between the ages of 20 and 25, about 6'3" with wavy blond hair and a thin build, according to the police report. The witness said the vehicle was an old, small silver car with a spoiler.
"We continually told him that we didn't want any trouble, but he would not leave us alone," the witness said. "We gave them no reason to hurt us and it was very strange that the man attacked [the victim] and wanted to hurt me as well."
The witness said after the car drove away, he and the female friend took the victim to the hospital and filed a police report. The victim said he was blacked out for most of the attack. He was released from the hospital Sunday morning. The female student also present was unharmed during the incident, the witness said.
The witness said he did not think the men were from Whitworth or "had any association with the school." He described them as being in their mid-20s.
Security supervisor Mark McFall said the incident was not reported to the security department because it did not occur on campus.
He said he did not hear about the incident until the campus-wide e-mail was sent out.
Campus response
Open Conversations: Orientation club has planned an event called "Stop the Hate" in response to the assault. The event will be held Wednesday, April 29 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Whitworth Campanile.
"The purpose of this event is not to weigh the right or wrong in being gay -- when someone is assaulted, more relevant things are at hand," according to the description of the event on Facebook.
Senior Ben Bonnema, president of the Open Conversations: Orientation club, said the event will be a discussion of hate crimes and how the campus community can and should respond to them.
Bonnema said Kathy Storm, vice president for Student Life, will most likely be speaking at the event.
The witness said he never expected something like this to happen to him and his friends.
"This is what stems from hatred and people who are not accepting of other people," he said. "It is necessary to practice love and acceptance of all people in order to prevent these random acts of violence. Always travel in groups and try to stay in well lit areas."
Storm said in the e-mail that members of the Whitworth community should know about the assault.
"We also want you to know about this so we can stand together, supporting each other as members of a community, where the injury of one is the injury of all," Storm said in the e-mail. "And we want to clearly state our opposition to hate of any kind; this violates the foundation of our university life, and is an affront to all that we value."
Check back on whitworthian.com for further updates.
Contact Joy Bacon at joy.bacon@whitworthian.com. Contact Julie Wootton at julie.wootton@whitworthian.com.
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Love you all.