Salt Lake City Police have identified and charged Carlo Alazo, the man seen in a viral video shared on February 17, taunting a gay man before assaulting him.
FOX 13 reports: ‘A charging document states Trejo was with a group of friends when he heard Alazo, who was on the phone nearby, make a comment about “standing by a gay guy”. When Trejo reacted to that remark, Alazo became more belligerent and started calling Trejo and the other men in the group “fa—-“, along with making other derogatory comments directed at the women in the group. Alazo then asked if Trejo was gay and then hit the man when he said that he was, the document states. The blow, captured on camera, ended up striking Trejo’s cell phone rather than his person. Alazo then shoved one of the women and pulled out a knife, which he dropped, the document states.’
But Alazo won’t be charged with a hate crime because Utah’s laws don’t address sexual orientation.
Said Troy Williams of Equality Utah: “The assailant is not being charged with a hate crime. Because Utah’s current statute isn’t working. It’s broken. It’s unenforceable.”
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said the state’s current hate crime law “is not worth the paper it’s written on…I would have to show that the person involved in criminal behavior had the intent to deny a constitutionally protected right…It’s so burdensome, we don’t even go to it.”
KUTV adds: ‘There is a bill in the state legislature that could finally correct this. Senate Bill 103 has cleared its first legislative hurdle at the capitol and could soon get a vote. The bill provides for “an enhanced penalty for a criminal offense committed against a victim who is selected because of certain personal attributes.” Those “certain personal attributes” are final being specified in the law, and include sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as other attributes like race and religion.’
Watch FOX 13’s report:
