Washington, D.C

D.C. police investigate assault of gay model as a hate crime

Published

2 months ago

October 30, 2024

D.C. police investigate assault of gay model as a hate crime

A 22-year-old gay man was assaulted by multiple people in Washington, D.C., early Sunday morning after not saying “excuse me” to one of the assailants, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report.

The incident occurred on the block of 14th Street and U Street, in the city’s upscale Logan Circle neighborhood, after 1 a.m.

Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro was out at the nearby queer night clubs Crush Bar and BUNKER on Saturday night before the incident. In an interview with NBC News, Lascarro and his husband, Stuart West, said they frequent the neighborhood, which is popular with the city’s LGBTQ community.

“This is an area that we visit almost every weekend,” said West, who was not with Lascarro at the time of the incident.

Before going home, Lascarro stopped at a McDonald’s located across the street from the two bars. While at a self-service checkout, he decided that the restaurant was too crowded, so he canceled his order.

When he turned around to leave, Lascarro said, he was confronted by a woman in line behind him, who remarked that he needed to say “excuse me.”

He said he avoided the confrontation and headed for the exit, but multiple people blocked the doors, insisting that he needed to apologize.

According to the police report, Lascarro was then called a homophobic slur multiple times, including by one suspect who said: “I’m going to teach you how to say sorry, f—–.”

Lascarro said he refused to apologize, which led to multiple people beginning to attack him and “punch him all over.”

As many as 10 to 15 suspects, both men and women, were involved in the assault, according to the police report.

The alleged assault spilled onto the sidewalk outside the restaurant, where Lascarro reported that he was continually punched, called a homophobic slur and had garbage thrown at him.

The restaurant was not reachable by phone Wednesday, and the McDonald’s corporate office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Police are investigating the case as a hate crime, classifying the offense as a simple assault with an anti-gay bias motivation, according to the police report.

After the assailants left the scene, two pedestrians who encountered Lascarro helped him call 911. He was transported to Howard University Hospital to be treated, the report said.

On Wednesday, Lascarro said he felt “tired and frustrated” and is experiencing headaches in addition to continued pain, swelling and bruising on his face.

Lascarro, who is originally from Colombia, moved to Washington, D.C., last year and became a permanent resident of the U.S. this year. He said he is having a hard time recounting the incident to his family, with whom he struggled to come out as gay.

“I feel overwhelmed by it all and lost,” he said.

West added that Lascarro works as a model, and the combination of fear to commute to work and damage done to his face has had “a devastating effect on his ability to be successful right now.”

The couple are in contact with local officials about the case, West said, and he is also reaching out to “every possible local government contact that you can think of” to raise the issue of protection for the city’s LGBTQ community.

In August, a gay man accused a group of Shake Shack employees of beating him after he kissed his boyfriend at the restaurant’s location in Dupont Circle, one of D.C.’s most historically LGBTQ-friendly neighborhoods.

Washington, D.C., is set to be the host of WorldPride in 2025.

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Washington, D.C

Four Seasons Hotel conman wanted by DC Police

Published

6 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

Four Seasons Hotel conman wanted by DC Police

article

WASHINGTON – D.C. police are asking for the public’s help identifying a man accused of committing fraud and theft at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown.

The incident occurred on Sunday, November 24, around 3 p.m. at the luxury hotel located on the 2800 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Surveillance footage captured the suspect arriving at the hotel in a Porsche SUV. He was seen wearing dark pants and a puffy winter coat, carrying a backpack. The man entered the hotel and was observed speaking with an employee at the front desk.

According to police, the suspect then dined at the hotel’s restaurant, ordering various items and charging them to a room number he was not registered to.

Following his meal, he proceeded to the hotel gym for a workout before leaving the premises and driving away in the Porsche.

Detectives are urging anyone who recognizes the suspect to contact them. A reward of $1,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case.

Attempts to reach the Four Seasons Hotel management for comment were unsuccessful, as they declined to discuss the incident.

Crime in the DMVWashington, D.C.Metropolitan Police Department

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Washington, D.C

‘I felt the boom': Burning building collapses in DC after car crash

Published

15 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

‘I felt the boom’: Burning building collapses in DC after car crash – NBC4 Washington

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Washington, D.C

Cal Thomas: Washington D.C.’s political Christmas tree

Published

23 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

Cal Thomas: Washington D.C.’s political Christmas tree

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, December 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on a bad Christmas tradition in Washington D.C.

CAL THOMAS: When Washington politicians speak of a Christmas tree this time of year, they are not referring to an actual tree. It means they’ve loaded up a bill with another kind of “green,” the kind that’s decorated with money.

The “bipartisan” bill passed just before midnight last Friday, minutes before a government “shutdown” would be an embarrassment to anyone but the politicians who voted for it. Like Christmas, this scenario gets played out almost every year with no regard for the growing debt.

The first bill was more than 1,500 pages. Elon Musk denounced it and suddenly it shrunk to over 100 pages, but that was too little for the big spenders. What passed last week at 118 pages may take days to digest, but you can be sure of one thing: pork is part of it. Always is.

For the last ten years, Republican Senator Rand Paul has published what he calls a “Festivus” report on just some of the wasteful spending in which our Congress is engaged. His latest – and you should Google it to see it all – includes the following:

Some of the highlights – or lowlights as I like to call them — include funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to subsidize ice-skating drag queens and promoting city park circuses. Additionally, the Department of the Interior invested in the construction of a new $12 million Las Vegas Pickleball complex. Interior also allocated $720,479 to wetland conservation projects for ducks in Mexico. This year, the Department of State is featured eleven times, with expenditures including $4.8 million on Ukrainian influencers, $32,596 on breakdancing, $2.1 million for Paraguayan Border Security (what about security at our border?), $3 Million for ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil, and much more!

Hey, it’s not their money, it’s our money.

At least this time a pay raise for members didn’t make it to the final bill. Members should be having their pay cut, not raised, for under-performing.

Perhaps Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk can do something about the misspending that has led to the unsustainable $36 trillion dollar debt with interest of $1 trillion dollars just this year.

Others have tried and failed to break the spending habit. Maybe they will succeed this time, but the odds are not good. It’s not called “the swamp” for nothing.

I hope you had a Happy Christmas. Your politicians did.

I’m Cal Thomas.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.

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