Police have arrested two men in connection to a suspected gay bashing in downtown Vancouver last month.
Thomas Pope reported that two men approached him outside the McDonald's restaurant at Tinseltown Mall in the early hours of Oct. 8. He told CTV News that the pair shouted homophobic slurs and then punched him in the mouth several times.
A 22-year-old Port Moody man and a 20-year-old Fort St. John man have both been arrested in their hometowns in connection with the assault, and Vancouver police are recommending assault charges.
Investigators say they will also ask Crown counsel to look into Pope's allegations of homophobic slurs to see if there is enough evidence to support sentencing under hate crime legislation.
Both suspects have been released from custody on promises to appear in court.
Initial VPD response panned
Pope told CTV News last month that he was shocked by the reaction of one Vancouver police officer who responded to his call on the night of the assault.
"She said that she was off the clock and not getting paid for it, that we were lucky that she even showed up. Just a bunch of crazy things that I didn't think I'd ever hear a police officer talking about," Pope said.
He said at the time that he intended to file a complaint against the responding officer, but police spokesman Const. Lindsey Houghton said Tuesday that the department has not received a complaint.
