A fight among four students on the New Schools of Carver campus in Atlanta on Monday is not being classified as a hate crime even though two of the students said they were attacked because they are gay.
According to an Atlanta police report of the incident, another student who witnessed the fight said she overheard a homophobic slur. And one of the two students who said he was beaten, a 17-year-old 11th grader at Carver School of Technology, told police, according to the report, that the student who attacked him used homophobic and racist words.
But, in a statement, Atlanta police spokesperson Elizabeth Espy said that after conducting an investigation, it was determined that, “This case does not meet the parameters for a bias classification because the fight was not motivated by sexual orientation.”
Espy said, “The statute states that a crime must be motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim, or is a violation of the state, local, or tribal hate crime laws.”
Three of the four students in the fight are juveniles, police said. They will be charged with affray, or fighting in a public place.
The other student will be given a copy of charges for disorderly conduct, police said.
The two students who said they were beaten because they are gay suffered injuries, according to the incident report. One had a bloody mouth and loose front teeth, and the other student received a gash under his right eye, which he said was caused by a screw driver used to cut him.
The Atlanta Public Schools issued a statement Thursday that said the district’s investigation of the incident is “ongoing.”
It said the district, “continues to provide student support services to students on the Carver campus … The district is taking appropriate disciplinary action.”
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