Police are
investigating a brutal crime in which a woman was
jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, and
repeatedly raped, then left naked outside of an
abandoned apartment building in the San Francisco Bay
area.
The woman was
attacked on December 13 after she stepped out of her car,
which had a rainbow bumper sticker, according to the
Associated Press.
"It just pushes
it beyond fathomable," Richmond police lieutenant Mark
Gagan said to reporters. "The level of trauma -- physical
and emotional -- this victim has suffered is extreme."
One of the men
reportedly approached the 28-year-old woman as she crossed
the street, hit her with a blunt object, forced her to
remove her clothing, and then, along with three
others, raped her for 45 minutes.
When the men saw
another person approaching, they forced her into her car
and took her to a burned-out building, where she was raped
again. They left her naked on the street, taking her
car and her wallet. She sought help from a nearby
resident, who took her to be examined at a
hospital. Her car was found abandoned two days later.
The woman said
she did not know the men, but two of them answered
to the names "Blue" and "Pato." She estimated their
ages ranging from late teens to about 30. Richmond
police are offering a $10,000 reward for information
leading to the arrest.
Hate crimes have
been on the rise nationally. There were 1,460 hate
crimes in 2007, according to the FBI, an increase of 45 such
crimes over 2006. In both years, 16% of hate crimes
targeted people based on their sexual orientation.
(Michelle Garcia, Advocate.com)
