One arrested in possible hate crime attack

August 29, 2008 05:17 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Globe Staff

Boston police say they have made an arrest in a possible hate crime attack that took place in the South End early Sunday morning.

Twenty-eight-year-old Fabio Brandao of Framingham is being charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Other charges may follow, police said in a statement.

Brandao is allegedly one of four men who assaulted four friends who were ambling home after a night out at a nightclub.

Victims told police a white Honda stopped alongside them and the men inside began shouting obscenities that included homophobic slurs. The men then got out of the vehicle and began assaulting the victims while continuing to yell slurs.

"They started yelling out slurs directed to my friends, calling them 'faggot' and 'better not look over here [expletive] faggots,' " Jenna, a 23-year-old Jamaica Plain resident, said yesterday as she described the Aug. 25 attack.

Jenna said she stepped in front of one of the men, hoping to defuse the situation, and was stunned when he attacked her. "He punched me directly in the face as hard as he could," she said.

Within seconds, Jenna said, she was knocked to the ground; one of her friends was unconscious and being kicked and beaten about the head; a third had fled, bleeding profusely from a scalp wound; and a fourth was frantically calling police on his cellphone.

"It wasn't a fair fight at all," said Jeff, the man who was trying to summon help on his cellphone. "None of us are big, muscley guys or into karate or something like that."

Jeff and Jenna provided the Globe with their full names but asked that they not be published because their assailants remained at large. They said their two friends were treated at a Boston hospital following the attack, but cannot recall any details of what happened when the four men jumped out of a parked white car and suddenly set upon them.

Police said the case has been assigned to the Community Disorders Unit, the group of detectives who investigate hate crimes.

Police asked anyone with information to call District 4 detectives at 617-343-4683. People wishing to remain anonymous can call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 800-494-TIPS or text "TIP" to CRIME (27463).