On the evening of July 12, a gay man was assaulted by four men and robbed of his wallet while walking along the south side of the intersection at Washington and Albatross in Mission Hills.

The victim, who asked not to be identified in order to protect his privacy, said he believes the incident may have been motivated by hate due to the violence of the attack.

“The amount of violence they used is so shocking to me,” he said. “To get robbed is one thing. If they had said, ‘Give me your wallet,’ of course I would have handed over my wallet and took off. I would have dropped the groceries and ran.”

The San Diego Police Department said they have not classified the assault and robbery as a hate crime because no anti-gay epithets were directed at the victim.

According to the “San Diego Regional Hate Crimes Procedural Manual for Law Enforcement Officers,” a hate crime is any criminal act or attempted criminal act motivated in whole or part by the victim’s actual or perceived race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability. A hate incident is a non-criminal act motivated in whole or in part by the offender’s bias against a person because of his or her race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

The Gay & Lesbian Times was able to confirm with the SDPD only one incident involving a member of the GLBT community, although John Woodgate, a friend of the victim, said there may have been several others.

SDPD detective Jim Needham said he interviewed the victim two days after the incident and showed him photographic lineups of potential suspects, but the victim couldn’t identify any.

According to the victim, detective Needham asked him at the end of the interview if he was gay and told him that details of the incident corresponded with some of the other robberies in the area.

“He [then] asked if they made any taunts,” the victim said. “It happened so quick that nothing was even said…. [Needham] said they have been investigating a series of these incidents since the beginning of summer.”

SDPD Lieutenant Margaret Schaufelberger said detective Needham asked the victim if he was gay because Needham had worked on a case two years ago involving a series of attacks in which gay men were targeted.

“So I think he was gathering information to determine whether or not another series was starting,” she said. “That would be my guess.”

Schaufelberger said there have been four street robberies in Hillcrest since April, and that it’s difficult to determine if any of those robberies targeted gay males specifically.

“It’s tough to know A: whether or not that was a factor of it, and B: unless the officer specifically has a reason to record whether or not somebody was gay, that even though they may have been gay, we would not have a way in the database to search that,” she said. “It’s not one of the questions they ask when they’re asking the victim identifying information.”

SDPD acting lieutenant Sharon McNair said there were other commercial and pedestrian robberies in the Hillcrest, North Park and University Heights areas, but that she is not aware of other incidences against gay males.

“The only crime trend that we have right now – and that’s throughout the city, not necessarily in Hillcrest, North Park, University Heights – is the lone pedestrians walking down the street and either one or two – or up to four – people confront them and rob them of their wallets, their money and their cell phones,” she said. “Some of these victims have been assaulted at the same time, either punched in the face, knocked down to the ground and so forth. Nothing is indicating to us that it’s involving race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or anything to indicate it’s a hate crime.”

Many of the incidents reported to the police involve people walking home alone in the late evening hours after exiting bars and clubs, McNair said.

“They’re walking alone and they’re just prime targets for these thugs that are going after these people,” she said. “It’s more of a crime of opportunity right now than it is a hate crime.”

McNair said there were 26 commercial robberies and 60 pedestrian robberies in the SDPD’s Western Division between April 1 and July 18. She said most robberies have been reported in the University Heights, North Park and Hillcrest areas.

The gay man who was victimized July 12 in Mission Hills said he doesn’t remember much of the attack but regrets not acting quicker.

“I remember a little bit – a feeling of I’ve been hit,” he said. “A little bit of a stars sensation. Then, next thing I know, I was picking myself off street and covered in blood.”

The victim suffered various head injuries, including a broken nose, and received 13 stitches across his chin, five in his forehead and three in his left eyebrow.

After being attacked, the victim said he got up and walked to his home on First Avenue and then drove himself to Scripps Mercy Hospital. One of the emergency room workers said it looked like he was struck with a blunt object, such as a two-by-four, the victim said.

The suspects are still at large and have been described as four African-American males between the ages of 20 and 40.