Police Source: “People Are Going to Get Locked Up” in Center City Gay-Bashing Case
Philadelphia Gay News has released some interesting new details in the gay-bashing that happened on September 11th on 16th and Chancellor streets, most important of which is that arrests are expected this week:
A police source said this week that they were nearly “ready to go” in terms of making arrests and said charges are expected “this week.” A key witness, the source said, was due in for an interview Monday, “the girl who was right in the middle of it all.” After that, the source said, the District Attorney’s Office will review all of the evidence collected in the case and make a decision about charges.
“People are going to get locked up,” the source said.
There’s also new information that suggests the hold up in the case revolves around a wallet that was stolen from the victims and dropped on a street corner later that night. According to the article, one of the attack.
A source close to the investigation said one of the members of the group said she picked up the bag in the melee thinking it belonged to a companion and, upon realizing it did not, dropped it at 16th and Walnut streets. The bag was discovered by a homeless person, who used one of the victim’s credit cards.
“The credit card was used several different places, so we’ve had to go to all the places the card was used and investigate,” the source said.
As of Monday morning, police had completed 18 interviews with members of the group and witnesses. Each interview, the source said, takes about four hours.
Prolonging the process, the source added, is that each person in the group has retained a separate, private attorney.
“We’ve had to schedule with the attorneys for all the different times for them to come in,” the source said. “But Monday morning as soon as the stores opened, we started working through the video and then we started the interviews. We want to make sure whoever threw a punch or whoever was part of this assault will be arrested. What happens with cases like this is that, if you rush it and don’t do a good job, they’ll start throwing out charges later on. These kids all have top-notch attorneys, so if our case isn’t put together on our end, they’re going to pick it apart. But we’ve put together a great case for the DA and we’ll be working in conjunction with the DA to bring the charges.”
Stay tuned for more updates.
