Bar patron attacked by large group of youths

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland--Nine years ago, Jared Fox accepted GLSEN Northeast Ohio�s award for the activist organization of the year for his group Helping Alternative Lifestyles of Others at James Ford Rhodes High School.

Last weekend, he and other people were targeted by a group of up to 20 youths, who attacked them as they were on their way to Cocktails.

It was just before midnight on August 31 when Fox parked his car and was walking to the bar on Detroit Avenue at West 93rd Street. He saw the youths, who started asking him if he had any money or valuables.

When he told them he was broke, one of them said, �Oh, you�re one of those broke faggots,� and started beating him, leaving him with a black eye, a ruptured eardrum and multiple contusions. They made off with his cell phone.

Just before that, they had apparently attacked another person two blocks away, and the call from that assault was the first of four that police received. That first call came at 11:53 pm, and police were there by 12:07 am, but the suspects had fled.

Police are calling the incident a hate crime.

Fox, in a YouTube video, says that Cocktails staff told him the young men had been gathered outside the bar for up to an hour before the incident, and bartenders had called police earlier, but they did not come until after Fox was attacked.

Cocktails has numerous security cameras, and some of the suspects have been caught on camera.

Fox was in town visiting his family for Labor Day, since he now lives in New York City. He will participate in the Reebok Spartan Race on September 8, raising money for GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

Anyone with information about the attacks are asked to call the First District of the Cleveland Police Department at 216-6235118, or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 216-2527463.

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