A Seattle gay man is recovering from an early morning attack on Monday in which he was chased and beaten by a group of three men and two women who began by taunting him with anti-gay slurs.
Jason Jacobs, 37, said he was attacked shortly after midnight in Seattle’s Capital Hill neighborhood after the group noticed his pink shirt and shoes.
Jacobs suffered a broken nose, minor lacerations to his face and knee abrasions, according to Seattle police. Jacobs staggered toward a nearby Starbucks where someone called police and stayed with him until an ambulance arrived.
Jacobs said the attack occurred as he was walking home and that he was hurt so badly that he doesn’t remember much after his assailants started to punch him. He is hoping that more people will come forward who witnessed his beating and offer police better descriptions of his attackers.
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“I was unconscious for quite a while,” he told KIRO-TV “I’ve got a broken eye socket, two broken ribs, my nose is broken and I have a major concussion.”
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Jacobs said he believes he was attacked because he is gay.
The Seattle Police Department is investigating the incident as a hate crime.