The suspect in a March 7 anti-gay hate crime in Midtown Atlanta. From GA Voice (screenshot)
PATRICK SAUNDERS | The GA Voice, January 2, 2015
ATLANTA, Ga. — One of two victims of a violent anti-gay hate crime that occurred in Midtown Atlanta in March 2014 has come forward, and is speaking out because police have made no arrests in the case.
Bryan Long, who had previously requested anonymity, is the executive director of the progressive political advocacy organization Better Georgia, and can be seen getting in-between his partner and one of two suspects in video footage of the incident.
Long says he and his partner, who prefers to remain anonymous, were holding hands at and Atlanta intersection on the evening of March 7, 2014, when an unknown suspect jumped out of a car, yelled homophobic slurs at them and then punched his partner in the back of the head, pushing him into the street and into oncoming traffic.
Atlanta police tell the GA Voice they identified the driver, thanks to cell phone video the victims took after the incident, but that he claims not to know the suspect who was riding in his car. That claim has drawn widespread skepticism from the community.
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