Officers arrested two men on hate crime charges Friday night after the pair hurled racial and homophobic epithets at another man outside a Capitol Hill gay bar.
The victim was standing outside the R Place Nightclub–which participates in SPD’s Safe Place program–around 9 PM when two men approached him and asked for a cigarette.
The victim declined to share a smoke with the suspects, who began berating the victim when they saw him lighting up a few minutes later.
The suspects began shouting homophobic and racist slurs at the victim and threatened to attack him. Several witness stepped in and called 911.
Officers arrived and arrested the two intoxicated men–33 and 40 years old–and booked them into the King County Jail for investigation of malicious harassment, Washington’s hate crime statute.
