Congressman’s Aide Accused of Beating Boyfriend With Shovel

The victim told police his attacker threatened to kill him, saying, “Die dirty faggy."

Dawn Ennis

The Advocate's news editor Dawn Ennis successfully transitioned from broadcast journalism to online media following another transition that made headlines; in 2013, she became the first trans staffer in any major TV network newsroom. As the first out transgender editor at The Advocate, the native New Yorker continues her 30-year media career, in which she has earned more than a dozen awards, including two Emmys. With the blessing of her three children, Dawn retains the most important job title she's ever held: Dad.

Read Full Bio

Dawn Ennis

October 14 2015 12:54 PM EST

Lifeafterdawn

Sorry to interrupt...
But we wanted to take a moment to thank you for reading. Your support makes original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Help us hold Trump accountable.

One-time Monthly

$19.67 $50 Other

$5 $19.67 $50

The aide who handled online media for Congressman Sander Levin of Detroit is on unpaid leave pending criminal charges regarding domestic violence, involving not his wife but his boyfriend, according to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.

A report by Baltimore City Police shows officers arrested Tim Foster, an aide to the Democratic House member, around 2:30 a.m. last Thursday.

Police say Foster used a small shovel to beat another man, who suffered abrasions and bruises on his upper back, neck, and torso, requiring hospitalization. The altercation, at a home in northwest Baltimore, apparently started as a verbal dispute between Foster, 32, and the 39-year-old black male identified by police as his boyfriend; his name has not been disclosed.

The victim told police Foster put him in a choke hold and said, "I want to kill you. Die dirty faggy." Foster, according to the report, released his boyfriend but then grabbed a kitchen knife and threatened to stab him. Foster's wife "got in the way" when he lunged at the man, and the knife fell to the floor, Roll Call reports. Police say Foster kept hitting the man as he fled to his car, which he drove to a local hospital.