Crime

US: Man facing hate crime charge for spraying anti-gay graffiti

Jan 16 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

A man from Southern California is facing felony hate crime charges, after officers caught him spray painting an anti-gay slur on campus buildings of his university.

23-year-old Anthony Garcia, of Huntinton Park, was chased on foot by police last Saturday, after police caught him spray painting anti-gay slurs onto campus buildings at the University of California, Berkeley.

The University of California Police confirmed that he had been arrested, and that he fell and cut his forehead during the chase.

Despite being caught on university grounds, Mr Garcia is not enrolled as a student at the school, reports Mercury News.

Not alone, a second suspect who got away, spray painted the graffiti onto two buildings and a tree, on the campus.

A man who daubed a housing block in London’s Shadwell with homophobic graffiti last year, was jailed for eight weeks.

Also last year, an artist from Los Angeles who allegedly painted the words ‘Tastes Like Hate’ on a Chick-fil-A restaurant following the announcement that their president was against marriage equality, was not criminally charged.