Adults urge teen boy to beat up gay cyclist, then allegedly police refuse to help
A gay man was allegedly beaten up by a teenage boy as two adults urged him on.
The man was on his bike cycling from Stockton to Middlesbrough when the incident happened.
According to reports, a car cut him off in the road prompting the altercation.
Two men and a teen appeared in the car and went on to hurl homophobic abuse at the man.
They asked if he was gay, before urging the teen to attack the cyclist.
The man said: “I didn’t retaliate as I didn’t want to hit a child and I knew it would escalate if I responded.
“They went once they realised I wasn’t going to do anything and I wasn’t badly hurt but this isn’t just about me.
“I think they’ve done this before and it could have been a lot worse for the previous person – or the next person.
“They didn’t know anything about me and they might have used homophobia as an excuse but it was really all about their lust for violence, which was definitely their main motivation.
“They’re absolute scumbags and I can’t imagine what kind of life that child is growing up into.”
The alleged incident is now being investigated as a hate crime according to police.
Incredibly police refused to help with the issue at first, according to the man’s report.
The man says that when he went to report the crime to an officer in a patrol car passing by.
However they allegedly refused to help him and said he should have rung 999.
A spokeswoman for the force apologised and said investigations were ongoing into the hate crime.
She said: “We are looking at the complaint thoroughly to understand the full picture, however, the service the victim received was not acceptable and we understand why he would be dissatisfied.”
