Five Ball State University students were assaulted and called names based on their sexual orientation Friday morning in what one student called a hate crime.
Senior elementary education major Kyle Flood said he and about 10 friends were in the Village, but that number dwindled to five by the end of the night. When they were starting to leave to go home, the students stopped at the corner of University and Dill streets to make sure everyone had a safe ride home, he said.
"While standing at the corner, a man and his friend approached us and shoved his way into our group yelling 'shut the f--- up, faggots!' over and over," Flood said.
A girl in their group put herself between the two who approached them and the five students and told them to leave them alone, he said. The man continued to yell at them, threaten them and call them "faggots," Flood said.
He said the man hit one of Flood's friends in the cheek and punched Flood in the eye, causing him to fall to the ground. The man's friend also starting shoving members of the group, Flood said.
He had his eye swollen shut, and his contact lens was lost in his eye, so he went to the emergency room at Ball Memorial Hospital, he said. The doctors attended to his injuries, which left him with a scratched cornea, burst blood vessels, a black eye and scratches on his hands, arms and face, Flood said.
Witnesses across the street at Greek's Pizza called 911, and came to help after the attackers left the scene by foot, he said.
Flood said he and his friends were told the attackers probably would not be found, but one of them walked into a restaurant where his friend was working. He said his friend called him, and then he called the police.
"They took his information, and after they got his name I looked him up on Facebook and could confirm who attacked us," Flood said.
He said he has stayed in constant contact with the Ball State police because he wanted to make sure the man was charged. Flood told police he identified the man as Timothy Michael Sims.
"Believe it or not, Facebook.com may be the key to helping find the attacker," he said.
Director of Public Safety Gene Burton said the attack happened at 2:57 a.m., but when officers arrived, the suspects could not be located. He said the investigation was ongoing, but they had the name of one of the suspects, although he did not say whether or not Sims was the person they were investigating.
Burton said based on the initial report, there was not enough information to determine if the crime was a hate crime, but that was something that would be determined during the course of the investigation.
According to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a hate crime is defined as a crime that shows evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or ethnicity. These crimes include, where appropriate, murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, aggravated assault, simple assault, intimidation, arson and destruction, damage or vandalism of property, according to the act.
According to Ball State's Office of Public Safety Web site, there have been no incidences of hate crimes reported on Ball State's campus since 2004.
"Battery crimes are more common than hate crime," Burton said. "While I can remember having other incidents that we labeled as a hate crime, it's been long enough that I can't say specifics [on the last time]. It's a rare occasion to have an incident like this reported to us."
Spectrum President Travis Schilla said he was friends with the people who were attacked, and it was shocking for everyone who found out about the incident.
"It's shocking that something like this happened today at Muncie and at Ball State," he said.
He said this was his fourth year at Ball State and nothing like this has happened since he has been on campus.
"It's not something that's common here, but I think it's important for people to know this is happening and be aware," he said. "Not to scare them, but to be aware and to be safe when they're out and about."
Schilla said Spectrum, Ball State's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight alliance student organization, was trying to let students know to be aware of this sort of thing.
"We don't want students to be shocked by this," he said. "We want them to know and feel empowered to do something but not be frightened by any means."
Flood said he was still in shock that someone could do something like what happened, but he did not think he would change how he lived his life.
"Until this incident occurred, I thought Ball State and the surrounding area was safe," Flood said. "I still think it's safe, but I don't think I'll go back to the Village bars any time soon. The outpour of support from friends, family and even complete strangers has been amazing. It takes an incident like this to realize how many people really do appreciate you and who you are."
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