Source: Washington Blade and DCist
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.

According to the TV news report, the man was attacked by six or seven men. Salerno was riding alone on a train Friday night. As the doors closed at Metro Center, the group surrounded and beat Nathaniel, kicking him as he fell to the floor and yelling "faggot".

Salerno managed to get off the train at the Smithsonian station, and he ran up to the station manager's booth to report the incident. He said Metro Transit Police would not drop him off at his house, only to another Metro station.

He said he believes that the attackers targeted him for money and their realization that he's gay "escalated their rage." Salerno also believes that Metro surveillance cameras caught footage of his attackers, but has yet to hear of any arrests related to the incident. Fox 5 contacted Metro hoping to air some of the surveillance footage, but did not receive a response by the time the story aired.

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.

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.

Full article: Washington Blade Online
Gay Man Attacked on Metro Friday Night | DCist.com