Georgetown student arrested for hate crime
Posted by: Will Sommer in News, Vox Populi, tags: Bias, Crime, Facebook, Hate Crimes, MPD, Phil CooneyMetropolitan Police arrested Georgetown student Phillip Cooney Wednesday in connection with an anti-gay hate crime, according to police chief Kathy Lanier.
According to the MSNBC article, on the September 9th a gang of men yelling homophobic insults attacked a man on 36th Street. The victim checked Facebook, found Phillip’s profile, and thought his attacker and Phillip had more than a passing resemblance. Looks like that annoying guy you know who won’t get a Facebook account because he says it’ll limit his career prospects was right, if indirectly.
The real question is, if Phillip’s guilty, who were his gay-bashing cronies? I doubt a Georgetown student would cruise Washington for homophobic partners-in-crime, so other Hoyas would seem like natural accomplices. If all his friends have alibis, Tucker Carlson has a history with this sort of thing.
Phillip’s either gone underground with his Facebook account or deleted it. I guess not all Georgetown students have the guts to thumb their noses at police on social networks.
-Will Sommer, blog editor
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Two words come to mind: Duke Lacrosse. I recommend you wait and consider the police tactics and id procedures in this case. The “line-up” seems particularly suspect - just like in the Duke case.
before deleting his facebook, wasnt he a member of the “not gay” facebook group?
Publicus, no one’s rushing to convict Phillip. The Duke Lacrosse comparison is apt, at least because it was such a dishy story. Anyway, let’s wait and see what the police find out.
Hmm, I couldn’t find the “not gay” group on Facebook (I didn’t look too hard). Is the idea of the group people who aren’t gay join it? If Phillip was in that, I think he doth protest too much.
[...] backstory: In 2007, a gay Georgetown student was assaulted in a hate crime near campus that resulted in the arrest of a fellow 19-year-old GT student. A [...]