Washingtonpost.com:
A former U.S. Marine was assaulted at a downtown Washington McDonald’s restaurant Friday night in an attack the victim said was racially motivated, according to D.C. police.
Christopher Andrew Marquez — who attends American University and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2014 in California — said in an interview that the attack occurred after several black youths asked him whether “black lives matter” and then called him racist.
Marquez, who is Hispanic, called the incident unprovoked. It occurred at the restaurant in the 900 block of E Street NW.
According to a D.C. police report, Marquez, 30, told officers that a group of at least four youths were loud and began to argue with him. The report says Marquez told police that one youth hit him in the face with a handgun and stole bank cards and his wallet with $400 inside. The incident was first reported by the Daily Caller, a conservative Internet news and opinion site.
The Black Lives Matter group needs to make it perfectly clear that bullying and thuggery are totally unacceptable. They need to quickly adopt and addendum that all lives matter.
Marquez told The Washington Post he had just come from a book signing when he stopped at the McDonald’s. He said he was eating in a back corner when a group of teens and young men approached. “They saw me and crowded around my table, and they started asking me if I believed black lives matter,” Marquez said. “I was ignoring them, then they started calling me racist.”
Marquez said they were trying to intimidate him, and soon after he said things got fuzzy. He said he believes he was hit in the back of the head with what might have been a pistol. Marquez flagged a cab and returned to his apartment complex, where a worker at the front desk called police. He was treated at George Washington University Hospital. He said he contacted the restaurant manager about the incident, who he said provided him with some details of the attack. The manager could not be reached for comment.
As a Marine, Marquez fought in the battle of Fallujah as an infantryman. He served eight years in the Marines, deploying to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal.
This story gets even more disgusting. Our vets, in particular, don’t deserve to be intimidated and bullied by hoodlums, imitating a bona-fide organization. The organization needs to send a strong message as to its expectations and behavior towards others. Otherwise, they become the alter-ego of the KKK. I don’t think that is their goal. Too many people have a strong investment in improving things to have that happen. BLM leaders need to immediately denounce this unacceptable behavior.
I think we should perhaps allow for the possibility that this was not really BLM at all but, rather, some young thugs using the BLM cause as a cover for mugging non-Blacks. I see all kinds of possibilities for nefarious “hijacking” of the BLM name in what appears to be a very fluid situation in terms of movement organization and control.
Just a thought.
Oh I expect you are right. But what does it take? I expect it is a sound byte that kids have latched on to.
That’s sort of my point. This is the time for leadership to step up to the plate and see that it doesn’t happen again.
We expect American Muslims to denounce terrorists all the time, from the other side of the world even. What’s the problem with BLM leadership doing the same thing when someone uses their name in vain while doing nasty things to others.
I agree.
Tough for an organization that wallows in being offended by perceived “micro agressions” to influence a group of street-thugs behavior. Two different worlds completely. Suffice it to say FBI director Comey may have hit the nail on the head, when he attributed the recent uptick in violent crime to “the Ferguson Effect”.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if some Marines from 8th &I took to walking the streets in two’s and three’s, in the hopes that these thugs might try the same thing again, and would be making critical errors in the victim – selection process.
That entire story sickened me. I don’t mean to imply that vets shouldn’t be beaten up and others should. I think what I meant to say is, if a man who had been through Fallujah and had received the Bronze Star is going to be jumped and intimidated by thugs, where does that leave the rest of us who don’t have the self defense skills that he had.
This crap needs to be nipped in the bud. I will go on record…if someone put a slug in one of those little bastards, I wouldn’t shed a tear.
Not to be too jaded, but I’d like to get a second witness (like the manager) on the record. I’ve been suckered before by stories ginned up to support a meme by being really light on verifiable facts.
Who carries $400 around if they also have bank cards?
@MoonHowler
Did you read the recent story of the Upper Darby PA police officer who was attacked by 2 “youths”, and then surrounded by a mob of over 40 more “youths”? He was saved by an armed citizen. No shots were fired, but even the police officer acknowledges it was the presence of an armed citizen that saves him from serious bodily harm.
http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news&id=368266751&
The right to keep and bear arms is important. If “youths” think it’s ok to assault a uniformed officer, would they think twice about assaulting a private citizen?
I am glad to hear the armed citizens was helpful. I had not heard that story.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2016/02/16/marine-bronze-star-recipient-iconic-fallujah-photo-attacked-dc-mcdonalds/80463452/
Here’s more.
More from the WaPost
Police could not verify the motive as described by Marquez and said they are continuing to look into the case. Dustin Sternbeck, the chief D.C. police spokesman, said detectives are reviewing surveillance video of the assault but it was not immediately clear what it shows.
“It’s an active investigation, and in this case, as in any other, we’re going to investigate it to the fullest,” Sternbeck said.
Its on the front page of the Washington Post.
You can see the surveillance video.