Post by Freedom on Nov 10, 2009 21:22:39 GMT -5
Poor guy.
Police: Priest attacked by Marine in Tampa
Kathryn Bursch
WTSP.COM NEWS
Tampa, Florida - Marine or Priest? Who do you believe? The accounts of what went on in a parking garage on Monday vary so drastically, it's hard to tell which man wears the halo.
Police say it all started when Alexios Marakis, a priest from Greece, got lost in Tampa. He followed some cars into an apartment parking garage and in very broken English asked Jasen Bruce for help.
Bruce, a Marine Reservist, told police the priest tried to rob him, so Bruce hit him with a tire iron and chased Marakis three blocks.
Bruce also told police he thought the robed and bearded Marakis was an Arab terrorist.
Police spokesperson Laura McElroy says Bruce told officers that the priest shouted "Allahu Akbar!" The phrase, Bruce told officers, that Arab terrorists use before they blow you up.
McElroy says Bruce also told officers that Marakis made a sexual advance towards him in the parking garage.
And that sexual advance is what Bruce's attorney Jeffrey Brown says motivated the attack. Brown held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to counter what he called the "one-sided, tainted" press release from TPD.
According to Brown, the priest "made a sexual reference and grabbed the genitals of Lance Corporal Bruce. Lance Corporal Bruce defended himself," explained Brown.
Brown says he's confident that eventually surveillance tapes and the 911 call will back up his client's account.
However, the president of the group Tampa Bay Human Rights is urging the police and FBI to investigate the attack on the priest as a hate crime.
Ahmed Bedier told 10 Connects, "There was some sort of motivation based on the person's ethnicity, where he perceived him to be Arab or Muslim and that's simply unacceptable."
Marakis is from Crete and is a visiting priest to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs. 10 Connects called and also visited the church on Tuesday, but no one was available to comment on the attack.
Police: Priest attacked by Marine in Tampa
Kathryn Bursch
WTSP.COM NEWS
Tampa, Florida - Marine or Priest? Who do you believe? The accounts of what went on in a parking garage on Monday vary so drastically, it's hard to tell which man wears the halo.
Police say it all started when Alexios Marakis, a priest from Greece, got lost in Tampa. He followed some cars into an apartment parking garage and in very broken English asked Jasen Bruce for help.
Bruce, a Marine Reservist, told police the priest tried to rob him, so Bruce hit him with a tire iron and chased Marakis three blocks.
Bruce also told police he thought the robed and bearded Marakis was an Arab terrorist.
Police spokesperson Laura McElroy says Bruce told officers that the priest shouted "Allahu Akbar!" The phrase, Bruce told officers, that Arab terrorists use before they blow you up.
McElroy says Bruce also told officers that Marakis made a sexual advance towards him in the parking garage.
And that sexual advance is what Bruce's attorney Jeffrey Brown says motivated the attack. Brown held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to counter what he called the "one-sided, tainted" press release from TPD.
According to Brown, the priest "made a sexual reference and grabbed the genitals of Lance Corporal Bruce. Lance Corporal Bruce defended himself," explained Brown.
Brown says he's confident that eventually surveillance tapes and the 911 call will back up his client's account.
However, the president of the group Tampa Bay Human Rights is urging the police and FBI to investigate the attack on the priest as a hate crime.
Ahmed Bedier told 10 Connects, "There was some sort of motivation based on the person's ethnicity, where he perceived him to be Arab or Muslim and that's simply unacceptable."
Marakis is from Crete and is a visiting priest to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs. 10 Connects called and also visited the church on Tuesday, but no one was available to comment on the attack.