Gay Couple Calls for Hate Crimes Charge After Being Attacked in Front of Daughter

A newly released video from police in New Mexico captures the moments a man was arrested earlier this year for allegedly assaulting a gay couple and their daughter with a metal broomstick.

Michael Drennan, his husband, Matthew Kisner, and their daughter decided to take a train for a day trip to the Rail Yards Market in Albuquerque to celebrate Father’s Day this past June. But Drennan told WOB-TV that what had been planned as a small outing to celebrate family instead turned into a terrifying day of violence and hatred.

“The idea was to have a nice Father’s Day outing with one of my daughters and my husband. Because there’s two fathers in our family, it’s kind of a big day for us,” Drennan told WOB-TV last week.

The trio were followed almost immediately after arriving in Albuquerque via the Roadrunner commuter train. Police say that Jordan Salazar, 26, began following and menacing the group almost immediately after they left the train station, yelling antigay slurs, questioning why the husbands were with their daughter, and striking one of the men in the back of the head with a metal broomstick. Salazar was experiencing homelessness at the time.

Unable to escape their alleged attacker, Kisner called 911.

“My husband who’s on the phone talking to the police, or the 911 dispatcher is kind of relaying to them the things that he’s saying. And at that point, my husband saying, you know, he’s calling us f*gg*t, you know, he wants to try and figure out why two men are with my daughter,” Drennan told KOB-TV.

As seen in the newly released video, police on the scene knew Jordan. One officer can be heard telling another officer he had detained Jordan the week before on suspicion of theft at a local store.

At the time, Kisner asked police if the incident would be prosecuted as a hate crime, saying he believed the alleged assault was motivated by antigay hatred as evidenced by the homophobic slur Salazar allegedly uttered during the attack.

A spokesperson for the Bernalillo Country District Attorney’s Office told KOB-TV the case is currently delayed as Salazar’s attorney is raising questions about his competency to stand trial.