3 days ago
Man attacked for protecting Pride decorations in Dupont Circle
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A man said he was attacked while trying to protect Pride decorations from being ripped down in Dupont Circle.
It's the second time this week that's happened, with two separate suspects.
On Monday night, a video captured a man tearing down Pride decorations in Dupont Circle.
Crews with the Dupont Circle Business Improvement District began replacing the banners on Tuesday.
Man seen tearing down Dupont Circle Pride decorations; DC police investigating
Chris de Anda said he tried to stop someone from ripping down rainbow banners near the intersection of 23rd and P streets NW on Wednesday. But he said he was subsequently verbally and physically assaulted.
'Bro you puttin' your own self in this situation,' the vandal said.
'Yeah, because I believe in this,' de Anda replied.
'Well, I don't. It's what's destroying the city,' the man said.
'Bro, you can't touch me bro,' the man said.
'You're touching me bro!' de Anda said.
de Anda said he first started taking video of the man ripping down banners next to the Shell gas station when the man started heading toward him.
'At first, I thought he was just approaching me because I was recording. But then I also looked behind me and there was a pole with a flag on it,' de Anda said. 'So I just got in front of it and I said, what the hell are you doing?'
With his arms around the pole to prevent more vandalism, de Anda said he was assaulted.
'He tried to rip my hands off. He scratched me a bit with his arms. Nothing real, but it's just crazy that someone would get physical to remove some plastic off of a pole,' de Anda said.
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He said he was called several gay slurs, too.
'You're the one causing public vandalism,' de Anda said.
'Shut the f*** up, f*****, fruitcake,' the man said.
'Oh, OK. Educated too, huh?' de Anda said.
de Anda said he and his friends are feeling cautious about pride for the first time, for a celebration that's supposed to be about visibility.
'It's just a symbol of support and love for our community. It's not something that pushes anyone down,' de Anda said. 'So the fact that someone would waste their energy to be so hateful towards it, it's sad, number one, but it's also sad that they feel empowered to do that.'
De Anda said D.C. police didn't immediately respond to his call. He said he did get a phone call a half hour after he called, saying someone would contact him to take a report, but as of Thursday night, no one has called him.
'Not to actually call me back and take a report of something that is clearly a hate crime, that's disappointing,' De Anda said.
A spokesperson said there's no excuse why he wasn't followed up with, but that officers responded to multiple calls on Wednesday for the same man tearing down banners across Dupont Circle. That is being investigated as destruction of property.
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