Catholic H.S. coach fired in connection to gay attack

http://youtu.be/KD8MglUjA50

A fucking coach. Well, that figures:

CENTER CITY (WPVI) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia says it has fired an assistant basketball coach at Archbishop Wood High School in connection with an attack on a gay couple in Center City Philadelphia.

The Archdiocese tells Action News the man was terminated Wednesday evening and will not be permitted to be a coach at any other Archdiocesan school.

Action News was at Philadelphia Police Central Detectives in Spring Garden Wednesday night as that man arrived with his attorney to be questioned by police.

We have blurred his face and have not identified him because he has still not officially been named as a suspect or charged with a crime.

“The investigation is in progress. We are cooperating with it. I think we would all be wise to wait the outcome of it,” said Brian McVan, the man’s attorney.

Earlier Wednesday, the Archdiocese released a statement acknowledging that several former students of the school, located in Warminster, Bucks County, are suspected in the attack.

“Earlier today, Archbishop Wood High School became aware that some of its former students were allegedly involved in the assault of two men in Center City last week. This afternoon, administrators communicated with the entire Archbishop Wood school community to make it emphatically clear that the school does not, under any circumstances, tolerate or condone the violent and hateful behavior displayed by those who took part in this senseless attack.

Administration also stressed that Catholic schools are centers of learning where students are expected to treat each other in a Christ-like manner at all times and that everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. The actions of those who took part in the attack are reprehensible and entirely unacceptable. They are not an accurate reflection of our Catholic values or of Archbishop Wood High School.”

Again, none of the suspects has been formally identified by police.

I’ll just add here that this kind of behavior really isn’t okay in a Catholic school, although of course it still happens. But it’s an automatic expulsion, and the schools really do their best to put students on the right path. You can lead a horse to water, etc.

Also:

City Councilman Jim Kenney has sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger calling on the Department of Justice to partner with local authorities to bring federal charges against anyone arrested for the attack on the gay couple last week in Center City.

Considering Pennsylvania’s lack of hate crime laws, Kenney requests that charges be brought up under the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hame Crimes Prevention Act.

In a press release sent out this morning, he states that, “This violent and vicious attack on two human beings because they are gay is clearly a hate crime. It’s a crime of violent bias that calls for the full weight of Federal prosecution by the United States Department of Justice … No citizen should fear for their lives when walking on a public street in any city in America. This is not Uganda. This is not Russia. We will not stand for this in our City.”