A Georgetown University sophomore identified through his Facebook profile has been charged in last month's homophobic beating of a fellow student in Washington, D.C., CNN reported.
Police recommended that Phillip Anderton Cooney, 19, of Southlake, Texas, receive a hate-crime enhancement in the September 9 attack near campus, in which the victim sustained facial injuries and a broken thumb.
Cooney appeared in court Friday to face a charge of misdemeanor assault, a crime carrying a jail term of up to 180 days and a $1,000 fine. The hate-crime enhancement ups the potential penalty to 270 days and a $1,500 fine, an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia told CNN.
Gay news site Pam's House Blend and others reported that Cooney is the son of former Bush administration official Phillip Anderton Cooney, who resigned in 2005 after it was learned that, as chief of staff to the President's Council on Environmental Quality, he had altered government climate reports to cast doubt on the link between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
The attack received widespread attention because it was the third homophobic attack in the district in less than two weeks.
The victim, also 19, told authorities he was walking along O Street in Georgetown when he was called out with an antigay slur. The victim said he turned a corner and walked away but was followed then attacked, tackled, and punched repeatedly.
He learned from a friend that a fellow student had discussed the attack in class, and the friend gave him the initials from that student's monogrammed book bag, WRC TV reported. The victim then got busy on Facebook.
"The victim said he made it a point to etch the suspect's face in his mind and remember him," Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant Alberto Jova told WRC. "Because of that he was able to give a very positive identification."
Georgetown University is investigating and will consider disciplinary measures that could include expulsion, a campus spokeswoman told CNN. Pending results of the investigation, Cooney will be allowed to return to class.
A rally was scheduled for Monday on campus to demand clearer protocols and prevention measures for bias-related incidents.
"We're trying to bring together a really diverse assemblage of people to say this sort of violence is not going to be tolerated here," Scott Chessare, copresident of GU Pride, told The Washington Post. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)
