A man says he was badly beaten up because he's gay. That man, Thomas Lahey, believes he's the victim of a hate crime. He says he was targeted near a club popular with gays and lesbians.
News of the attack comes just as the FBI is reporting hate crimes are up 8-percent across the country.
The club is called Krave. It's the first and only alternative club on the Strip. But one gay man leaving the club says he was hit by hate. Krave is billed as the preeminent gay and lesbian destination in Las Vegas. An accepting place inside, but outside on an early Sunday morning, it turned dangerous.
Thomas Lahey said, "My face was bashed. I don't remember anything."
Lahey's night on the town with a friend became a nightmare just over a week ago.
He told Eyewitness News, "They were calling us faggots, queers. When they were kicking me in the face, Jeremy said they kept saying, do you like that faggot?'"
Lahey says three guys beat him up inside a restroom at the Miracle Mile shops as he left Krave because he's gay. "I walk into a bathroom and then all of a sudden, I'm in the hospital with a broken nose and broken facial bones. It's horrible."
He was knocked unconscious.
The scars, broken nose, chipped tooth and fractured cheekbone are all painful reminders that Lahey's a victim of what he considers a hate crime.
Thomas Lahey: "I definitely think that we were singled out."
Reporter Aaron Drawhorn: "A hate crime?"
Thomas Lahey: "Yes."
Lahey believes the unidentified attackers had a gay-bashing agenda beforehand.
"The fact that they came into the bathroom the second we came into the bathroom just seems a little odd that they would randomly pick us out of everybody else and still use the verbiage that they did," he continued.
Lahey hopes they are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He still loves the club Krave, but just won't be back anytime soon.
Metro's violent crimes unit is investigating this incident.
If police determine Lahey and his friend were targeted because they're gay, the case would be classified as a hate crime. That moves the matter up to a more serious level with more severe punishment.
At this point, the suspects are only identified as three Hispanic men in their twenties.
Miracle Mile says it is fully cooperating with Metro. So, it's just a matter of finding them on surveillance footage.
E-mail your comments to Reporter Aaronm Drawhorn.
