An elderly man in
Detroit whose death became a cause for gay rights
advocates died of natural causes, not from being beaten,
authorities said Wednesday. Police also said they
intended to close the investigation into 72-year-old
Andrew Anthos's death.
''There's no
evidence that an assault occurred,'' police spokesman James
Tate told The Detroit News.
According to
family members, Anthos said he was riding a city bus home
from the library on February 13 when a young man asked him
if he was gay and uttered a slur. Anthos said the man
followed him off the bus and confronted him again.
Anthos said he told the man he was gay as he went to
help a friend whose wheelchair had gotten stuck in a
snowbank, according to his cousin, Athena Fedenis.
Anthos said the
attacker struck him in the back of the head with a pipe
and ran off. Anthos died February 23.
His death drew
wide attention and was cited on the floor of Congress by
Michigan senator Carl Levin as evidence of the need to
extend hate-crime legislation to gays.
But the Wayne
County Medical Examiner's Office concluded that Anthos fell
because he had an arthritic neck, and detectives were unable
to find witnesses to a beating, police said. Medical
Examiner Carl Schmidt said evidence did not support
the report of an attack on Anthos and said a head
injury likely came from falling.
It was unclear
what police made of the friend's account. Messages seeking
comment were left by the Associated Press but were not
immediately returned.
Fedenis said she
is shocked. ''I won't let this rest,'' Fedenis said. ''I
can't let this tarnish him. I don't want anyone to think it
wasn't a hate crime.'' (AP)
