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Loading ...Police Shoot, Kill Man At San Diego Pride Event
07.21.2008 12:07pm EDT
San Diego, California) An investigation began Monday into the police shooting of a man they rescued when he went overboard during a gay pride related cruise in San Diego Harbor.
Harbor Police were notified by the operators of the charter boat that a man had gone overboard late Saturday night. The man, identified as 37-year-old Steven Paul Hirschfield of West Hollywood, was rescued but reportedly began fighting with officers.
Harbor Police Lt. Ken Franke told NBC San Diego that Hirshfield grabbed a Taser from one officer and struck him in the face. He then attempted to take the officer’s handgun Franke said.
As the two struggled a second officer shot Hirshfield. He was pronounced dead by paramedics when the police boat docked.
Harbor Police Lt. Ken Franke said that Hirshfield was shot once in the torso.
An autopsy was begun Monday but it could take several days for toxicology results to come in.
Passengers on the boat were questioned by police for several hours.
The investigation has been turned over to San Diego Police and the District Attorney’s Office.
Earlier more than 100,000 people took part in San Diego’s gay pride parade. The march focused on California gays’ newly acquired marriage rights and the fight to preserve those rights in light of an impending vote to amend the state constitution to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.
On Friday dozens of LGBT activists picketed the Manchester Grand Hyatt to protest owner Doug Manchester who has donated $125,000 to the group behind the ballot measure.
The protestors demanded that Hyatt Hotels sever its ties with Manchester, a San Diego real estate developer.
The hotel was built and is owned by Manchester and operated by Hyatt which has actively marketed to the gay community.
“Hyatt is involved with someone who is giving a lot of money to a campaign to take away our rights,” Cleve Jones, a longtime gay-rights activist and organizer for Unite Here, a labor union representing hotel workers, told The Associated Press. “They need to decide what side they’re on.”
The hotel chain said that it took no position on Manchester’s involvement with the proposed amendment.
“It’s a personal decision of Mr. Manchester’s that doesn’t involve Hyatt,” Hyatt spokesperson Lori Alexander told the AP. “His name is on the door, but it’s not the views of Hyatt.”
This report should probably be two separate stories. From, “On Friday dozens of LGBT activists picketed the Manchester Grand Hyatt…” through the end of the article has very little to do with the subject matter the article began with.
I second that, Rick. This is the first time I’ve visited the site, and the writing in this article raises red (not rainbow) flags.
I believe that this is an Internal matter. Hyatt is a “Franchise” and as such can pull its name. However in so doing Hyatt may have to refund any portion Mr manchesters Money left over from the Franchise Contract.
When buying a Franchise; One must comply with That particular Franchise’s Guidelines. Wether it be McDonalds or Hyatt, or Disney. If the Parent Co. deems that particular Person or People Unsutable to Carry that name then they must show Just cause and can then Pull the Said Franchhise.
Ditto Rick & Robert. Unfortunately, sloppy editing has always been the norm at 365gay. I’ve often wondered who edits and/or PROOFREADS the articles since they often contain spelling and grammatical errors. This one meandering into a different subject doesn’t surprise me.
I’ve been continually amazed at the sloppy, often incomprehensible, mangled pieces by the staff at 365. Obviously, nobody ever even bothers to simply read over what they’ve written before posting, let alone have someone else proof it– like, an editor! Duh!– as is standard at ANY news site.
I just don’t get it. Do Planet Out, prior, and Logo, now, not even check to see if the staff they’ve hired to report the news are literate? It’s not like this is some blog written by a high school dropout between bouts of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. 365 is supposed to represent the gay angle of the news media, and people do in part judge the gay community on the quality of this and other sites’ coverage.
Rick, Robert, and Mac, I am behind those comments %100. This story clearly should have been split into two separate news pieces. The opening sentence is not structured right because it does not state exactly what the story was about. I did not realise that the man had died until the fourth sentence. Though I have noticed the vast majority of news stories on this site are from Associated Press, not from 365 news centre staff, so we cannot blame them for all the mistakes we find on this site.
To the writer of this report… What the hell does the Manchester Hyatt have to do with the shooting? If the only tie is that Gays were protesting and a Gay Man was shot…that’s an awfully big stretch there Einstein! Stay on topic!