Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Hate crime: Student severely beaten after Halloween party

Following a Halloween party , UTSA student Kristen Cooper was forced into a vehicle and severely beaten and dropped off on the side of the road by two men who were screaming anti-homosexual slurs at her; the incident was reported by KENS5.

During an interview with KENS 5 San Antonio, Cooper said, “Nothing like this should happen to anybody. They (doctors) said I have concussion, contusion and whiplash.”

The two men punched Cooper as she was waiting outside for a ride home from the party. The men then dragged her to their truck and drove away.

Cooper claims that they continued beating while the vehicle was in motion.

“It was bad; it hurt really bad, it was like full fist and I tried to fight them off, but I couldn’t,” Cooper said. to the KENS5 reporter.

The men eventually dropped her off around 1604. She had no phone, and she had to wander along the road until someone stopped to help her.

The two men have not yet been apprehended, but the San Antonio Police Department is investigating the incident.

Cooper describes this confrontation as, “A hate crime against me.”

Hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, such as their race, class, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or age.

In Cooper’s case, she believes she was targeted due to her sexual orientation as a lesbian, she told the KENS5 reporter.

The men kept shouting anti-homosexual remarks at her during the attack, which supports her conclusion.

Darrell Alviar, a senior biology major, said, “Nobody should be physically harmed because of his or her sexuality or sexual preference, simply put. There’s no need for it. She shouldn’t have had to go through that.”

“I think it‘s a horrible incident. I think people should have learned from what happened to Matthew Shepard and other hate crimes that have happened around the United States,” Alex Perez, an administrative assistant in the Office of the Registrar, said. “I think that people need to just be more accepting and more tolerant. We aren’t back in the sixties.”

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