Gay male couple attacked February 3 on Capitol Hill

Gay male couple attacked February 3 on Capitol Hill

A Gay couple was attacked as they walked together in Capitol Hill at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 3. Brad Crelia, 22, and his partner, Thomas Colonna, 27, were crossing East Olive Way when they heard the squealing tires of a speeding car. The car - a white BMW - drove recklessly toward the couple, and they put their hands up as if to tell the driver to "watch it." The car stopped, and three young men piled out and began assaulting Crelia and Colonna. Crelia was walking with a wooden cane due to a broken toe, and his attacker grabbed it away and beat him with it while using Gay slurs. He was punched and kicked in the face while the other two men grappled with Colonna. According to police, a surge of witnesses chased the young men back into their car, which sped away - but not before a witness noted its license number. Although Crelia and Colonna were holding hands when the car approached them, they aren't sure that was what spurred the attack. "I don't know if it started as a hate crime, but I think it quickly escalated into one," Crelia told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Repeated telephone calls to the couple by the Seattle Gay News went unreturned.