Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Gay Teen Arrested for Filing False Hate Crime Report
07.24.2008 5:19pm EDT
(Anderson County, S.C.) An 18-year-old, who had told police he was beaten by his father after attending a gay pride parade, was charged Thursday with filing a false police report.
Dwight Clark Ables told police last week that his father yelled, swung the bat and tried to “cast the demon of homosexuality out of him.”He claimed his 49-year-old father prayed as he swung the bat and then threw him out of the house. He also said that several days later, when the teen returned home to pick up his clothes, he was punched.
In the report he filed with police, the teen said that his father “has a problem with him being gay and that is why he hit him with the baseball bat.”
Investigators said Thursday they had found no evidence to support any of the allegations.
Ables is being held in a detention center awaiting trial.
Mark Said: “The kid couldn’t produce enough forensic evidence to prove that he was hit with a baseball bat?”
We have only the word of the police that there was no evidence. I have personally witnessed law enforcement officers manipulate and falsify evidence in order to try and obtain a conviction. It is certainly not unthinkable that a homophobic cadre would do the same.
this is dwight i am fine lucky and relived that night mar is over
The kid couldn’t produce enough forensic evidence to prove that he was hit with a baseball bat?
South Carolina is the most homophobic state in the country. They just let a murderer of a gay man walk with only 10 months in prison for G-d’s sake. So I do not believe the police when they said that he made a false report. I think he made a just report and the police didn’t listen to him because he is gay. It is still dangerous to grow up gay in the south.
We don’t see anywhere in the above story as written up by the 365gay.com staff any words about Dwight Ables admitting verbally or in writing that he filed a false report. We need to see in the story the point at which he admits doing such.
I see nothing here about whether he has current (at of the time this story was written) access to a lawyer or court appointed defender to represent him at his coming trial.
In a current or recent column seen on 365Gay.com, gay activist Wayne Besen made a reference to this alleged gay-bashing.
I live in Lexington, SC and trust me that the Police/Sheriff/Deputies are all the same. They will side with the parents and blame the Victim just because the Victim happens to be gay. Young Mr. Ables did the right thing by filing the report. It is not uncommon for Church goers to turn their backs on their own children just because they are gay. I beleive Mr. Ables. SC is a dangerous place to grow up gay.
Okay, I gotta’ say that this is a deductive logical fallacy based upon the premice (or assumption, rather) that “absence of evidence equates to evidence of absence!” This sort of thinking simply cannot be allowed! Here’s a fabulous article on this type of Logical Fallacy (personally, I think that more folks ought to brush up on their Critical Thinking Skills); it also attempts to shift the burdon of proof: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/burden-of-proof.html
A quote from the local newspaper (Independentmail.com)indicate no “forensic” evidence was found hmmmmmmmmm…..):
Dwight Clark Ables, 18, of 106 P St. turned himself in Wednesday at the Sheriff’s Office, according to the news release, after an investigation into the incident found a lack of any forensic evidence to support the allegation.
A quote from the local newspaper (Independentmail.com): (no “forensic” evidence hmmmmmmmmm…..)
Dwight Clark Ables, 18, of 106 P St. turned himself in Wednesday at the Sheriff’s Office, according to the news release, after an investigation into the incident found a lack of any forensic evidence to support the allegation.
I admit I do not know what happened in that case nor do I know what the Police know. However, I do find it suspect that they would charge Dwight Ables with filing a false report because they did not find evidence that supported his claim. If they said they had evidence that he wrongfully filed a claim, is one thing. But, using the lack of evidence off the assault as evidence of filing a false report is fishy at best coming from SC Authorities. Where is the evidence that Mr. Ables filed a false report.
I think the police are discriminating. No evidence doesnt mean it didnt happen.