Third man arrested in Seattle gay bashing

A third young man who was being sought in an attack on a man outside a gay bar last month has turned himself in to police in Bellingham, Wash., authorities said. The 17-year-old youth was arrested late Wednesday, a day after Seattle police working with the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Vadim Samusenko, 20, and David Kravchenko, 19, also from the Bellingham area. The victim, Micah Painter, 23, a personal trainer and landscaper, said Thursday he was both pleased and shaken to learn of the first two arrests. The attack, shortly after 1:30 a.m. June 27, rattled the city's gay community, which held a rally last weekend and heard police chief Gil Kerlikowske pledge to bring the perpetrators to justice. Painter said he was leaving Timberline Spirits when three men in a passing truck hurled insults and one asked whether he was gay. when Painter replied that he was, one of the men attacked him with a broken liquor bottle and the other two joined in. Painter was gashed in the face, has two large cuts on his back that have yet to heal, and has been unable to return to work. He said he was not angry toward them but hoped they would all be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. "I feel sorry for them, to live with that much hatred toward other human beings," Painter said. "I just hope that for one minute they can feel half the fear and the pain that I did."