Posts Tagged As: Flagstaff AZ

Flagstaff Hate Crime Assailant Charged With Felony

Jim Burroway

July 18th, 2008

We reported last month about four Flagstaff, Arizona men who were arrested following an assault on gay pride participants. One man was left unconscious and bleeding following the attack. Today we learn that one of those arrested, Travis A. Reiner, 24, of Flagstaff, has been charged with one felony count of aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of assault and disorderly conduct.

Police called the assault a hate crime because of anti-gay slurs that were shouted by the suspects. David Rozema, chief deputy Coconino County attorney said in a statement that Arizona no longer has a separate hate crime law. Rozema said that evidence of the crime being committed due to sexual orientation can be presented during sentencing in order to seek a stiffer sentence.

Four Arrested in Flagstaff Pride Attack

Jim Burroway

June 23rd, 2008

Flagstaff, Arizona police arrested four suspects following an assault on two people leaving a Flagstaff, Arizona Pride event early Sunday morning. The victims were in a crowd waiting for taxis along with staff and volunteers from Equality Arizona, when a group of men shouting anti-gay slurs attacked about 2:45 a.m. The most severely injured man, Michael Brown, was left unconscious and bleeding after being punched by an assailant. He was hospitalized overnight for observation and released on Monday morning.

Sam Holdren, Equality Arizona’s Public Affairs Director, was there with Michael (who is a good friend of his) and helped police identify the four assailants. The suspects are Travis Reiner, 24, of Flagstaff; Christopher Rose, 26, of Englewood, Colorado; Michael Van Roteyn, 24, of Flagstaff; and Mark Greinke, 25, of Sun City, Arizona. They are being charged with assault, aggravated assault and disorderly conduct. They may also be charged with hate crimes.

Flagstaff’s “Pride In the Pines” is one of the few Pride events held in Arizona during the traditional Pride month of June. With Arizona’s unbearably brutal summertime temperatures, Phoenix opts to hold their Pride celebration in April and Tucson has their’s in October. Flagstaff’s higher altitude and much milder climate makes Pride In the Pines a very popular destination for LGBT people from across the state. And since Flagstaff has a reputation for being a very friendly, laid back, live-and-let-live sort of a town, this attack is all the more troubling.

    

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