Windosr polcie say robbery had "hate crime overtones"

BY DALSON CHEN , THE WINDSOR STAR MAY 21, 2010

An outgoing gay rights activist is recovering from a vicious mugging that police describe as having “overtones of a hate crime.” Chris Rabideau, 26, suffered a concussion, a broken nose, a swollen right eye and bruising on his face and neck when two male robbers beat him unconscious on Friday morning.

Photograph by: Tyler Brownbridge, The Windsor Star

WINDSOR, Ont. -- An outgoing gay rights activist is recovering from a vicious mugging that police describe as having “overtones of a hate crime.”

Chris Rabideau, 26, suffered a concussion, a broken nose, a swollen right eye and bruising on his face and neck when two male robbers beat him unconscious on Friday morning.

“Initially, it was a plain robbery,” said Det. Kent McMillan of the Windsor police investigations branch.

After the first attack, the robbers attempted to march Rabideau to a bank machine so that they could take more money from him. “The whole way, they were denigrating him.”

McMillan said the incident happened on Ouellette Avenue around 1:40 a.m. Rabideau was walking home from a friend’s house.

The two men first knocked out Rabideau near the intersection with Erie Street.

They took his wallet, then brought him to his feet. Rabideau said the two men were talking to him and using homophobic slurs. “Of course, ‘faggot’ and everything in between.”

He tried to flee to his apartment building, but they caught him in the lobby and assaulted him with greater intensity, kicking him in the head when he was on the floor.

After the attack, the two men “just calmly walked out of the building,” McMillan said.

Rabideau has come forward about the crime, saying it is an example to the public that violent homophobia exists in Windsor. “This is what it looks like,” he said.

Monday was the International Day Against Homophobia. As part of Windsor Pride events, Rabideau directed a play about homophobia, conceived and performed by high school students.

“That’s the irony, isn’t it?” Rabideau said. “You get people in a room to tell stories, and to show people that we need to spread awareness. And five days later, this happens to me.”

The first robber is described as a white male 25 to 28 years old, about five feet and nine or 10 inches, perhaps 180 to 200 pounds. He has brown hair, shaved short, and a “chin-strap” beard. At the time of the incident, he wore a striped golf shirt, dark pants and dark shoes.

The second robber is described as a male possibly of Aboriginal descent, 25 to 32 years old, about six feet tall and 250 pounds. He has long black hair that he wore in a ponytail. He has two teardrop tattoos under his right eye. He wore a black coat and a white baseball cap with a spider-web logo.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call Windsor police detectives at 519-255-6700 ext. 4830 or Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477.

more:http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Windosr+polcie+robbery+hate+crime+overtones/3058320/story.html#ixzz0oghe25GJ