Homophobic comments and the taking of a cell phone from a gay couple in Seal Beach is being labeled a hate crime and strong-arm robbery by police.
The pair were walking in the beachfront parking lot at 902 Ocean Avenue around 7:15 p.m. Friday when they were approached by four other men they did not know, according to Seal Beach Police Sgt. Michael Henderson.
Derogatory comments were made about the couple’s same-sex relationship, followed by threats of harm before one in the foursome took the cell phone, and off they fled before police arrived, Henderson says.
All four were described as white, in their early 20s and having thin builds. Here are individual descriptions:
1. 5-foot-10, thin build, wearing gray or black hoodie with red writing, blue jeans.
2. 5-foot-9, thin build, wearing khaki or green pants, red Converse shoes.
3. 5-foot-9, wearing a black cap with marijuana leaves, shorts, Vans shoes and white mid-length socks.
4. No height given, wearing a black sweat shirt.
Anyone with helpful information is asked to contact Detective Jeff Gibson at 562.799.4100, ext. 1109.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.