Lawmakers, Community Groups Rally in Support of Strikes Assault Victim

The assault of a gay man in an Elk Grove parking lot was highlighted at a Capitol news conference today, where lawmakers and community leaders expressed outrage at the possible hate crime, and city officials promised to find and punish the suspects.

Seth Parker, 26, was punched in the face about 11:30 p.m. Sunday outside the on Laguna Boulevard, police say. Two men reportedly approached the victim while he was walking to his car with two women, after a going-away party for a co-worker. The suspects yelled anti-gay slurs at Parker, according to police, and one man hit him. Both suspects fled the scene.

“No hate, no hate, no hate,” was the refrain of supporters on the Capitol steps, as they held up signs saying, “Hate is not okay.” The is investigating the incident as an aggravated battery, but has not designated it a hate crime.

Parker suffered four facial fractures and will likely need reconstructive surgery, said event organizers. The victim, a Sacramento resident, didn’t attend the press conference, because he was getting medical attention for his injuries.

His roommate, Jason Hanan, 28, was on the steps of the Capitol in support of his friend, saying Parker was depressed and in pain.

“The face around his eye is caved in,” Hanan said.

Assembly members Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills) and Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) spoke at the conference, where supporters expressed solidarity with Parker and vowed to catch the suspects.

“Violence is particularly abhorrent when it is based on race, religion, or orientation, anything that has to do with a person’s birth or background,” said Huber, who represents the Elk Grove area. “We’re not going to put up with it, and we’re going to call it out when we see it happening.”

Elk Grove Mayor Steven Detrick attended the conference and said he was disturbed by the recent attack on Parker, which comes just a few months after the city made worldwide headlines when while taking their afternoon walk. Police say those murders still have not been officially labeled hate crimes, and are still under investigation.

“Crime in Elk Grove has dropped every year for the past four years, so these are random acts,” Detrick said. “Still, one violent crime is one too many.”

Detrick told supporters at the conference that his “heart goes out to Seth.”

“Even one victim of a cowardly act as heinous as this won’t be forgotten,” he said.

Elk Grove Councilmember Gary Davis told the crowd he was “deeply saddened” by the assault, and acts of intolerance were “just plain wrong.”

“This is an offense to the core of what we stand for,” he told supporters.

Paul Curtis, who represents the gay community on the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department’s Community Advisory Council, explained that while Elk Grove was the site of the Sikh murders and the attack on Parker, authorities in the city are aggressively investigating the crimes.

The bowling alley has been the scene of repeated fights and disturbances. Elk Grove police made 33 service calls to the business from January to March, prompting a neighborhood meeting about security at the bowling alley in March. New security patrols in the parking lot on Friday and Saturday nights are scheduled to start this weekend.

Elk Grove Police Department spokesperson Christopher Trim said that one of the suspects, described as a Hispanic male in his twenties, delivered one blow with a closed fist to the side of Parker’s face. While a charge of aggravated battery is a felony, an additional charge of a hate crime could be a felony or misdemeanor.

Trim said the attack appeared to have happened after the suspects attempted to chat up Parker's female friends and he came to their defense. Officers will be collecting evidence to help the Sacramento County District Attorney's office ascertain whether Parker was targeted because of his sexual orientation, he said.

"Was he singled out due to the fact that he's homosexual or because he was interrupting these guys trying to hit on these girls?" he said. "That is what our investigation is going to attempt to determine."

Felicia Mello contributed reporting to this story.