Man claims he was assaulted in homophobic attack in Phoenix
Mar 18, 2019, 5:45 PM
(Facebook/Cesar Marin)
(Facebook/Cesar Marin)
PHOENIX — Authorities are searching for a group of people accused of assaulting a man in downtown Phoenix over the weekend in what he is calling a homophobic attack.
Sgt. Tommy Thompson with the Phoenix Police Department said a 41-year-old man was driving in the area of First and Adams street right before midnight on Friday when he and a woman got into a verbal altercation.
During the fight, which began after she walked in front of his moving car, the woman also called the man a “homophobic slur and flicked a cigarette butt at him.”
The man got out of his car to confront the woman about the cigarette butt and was “rushed” by another woman, according to Thompson.
The man then allegedly pushed the second woman, knocking her to the ground. He said he was then “hit and kicked by as many as ten people.”
Witnesses told officers that people ran out of a nearby establishment to engage in the fight, and one of them said he overheard someone say the man “hit a woman.”
One of the suspects was described as a 5-foot-10 man between 220 and 250 pounds. There were no other suspect descriptions given.
A viral Facebook post under the name Cesar Marin said he was “gay bashed” and “attacked by a mob of 10 people.
“It all started with 1 girl flicking her cigarette in my car and calling me a [expletive]. Before I knew it, I was surrounded in a hail of punches.”
Marin also claimed that he got out of his car to look for the cigarette, not to confront the woman.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact Phoenix police at 602-262-6141 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.
