KPTM: assault on Ryan Langenegger, who defended Omaha gay friends, now being investigated by Omaha police as hate crime; Mayor won't attend "Drag Out Hate" rally

Homophobic assault in Omaha occurred one block from Central Police Headquarters. According
to the man smashed in the face, the perps didn't run away — they walked.

Langenegger did get sucker punched by the friend of man who was taunting him, KPTM reported.

     "One of his friends ended up hitting me in the side of the face when I wasn't looking," said Langenegger.
     ...Omaha Police are investigating the assault as a hate crime. Federal law defines a hate crime as anytime somebody is criminal act [sic] based off of race, sexual orientation, or sexual preference.
     "That's our main concern is to make sure people are okay," said Omaha Police Officer James Shade. "We will follow up on this and make sure there's not other victims from this."
     Langenegger said things were a little blurry after he was hit, but one thing was clear. "They didn't try to run, we were calling the cops, and they literally just walked away."

FOX 42: Omaha News, Sports and Weather; kptm.com |

     Too bad nobody on Howard Street who saw what happened bothered to discretely follow the trio to see what car they piled into. Sigh.
     Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert still hasn't bothered to post a statement on the attack on the Mayor's office web page, though the incident is all over the Internet because of the memorable photograph taken by Langenegger's friend, Josh Foo, who, unfortunately for the trio of perps, is a professional photographer.
     Stothert did finally release a statement last night to some local media saying that hate crimes in Omaha will not be tolerated and that she's confident the Omaha Police Department will conduct a thorough investigation, which is a nice gesture now that the incident is all over the internet from San Francisco to London.
     Unfortunately, Stothert also said she will not be able to attend the "Drag Out Hate" rally in the Old Market Saturday because she would rather eat glass than be photographed with drag queens.
     “Saturday's planned march in the Old Market is a right of all citizens that we respect,” she said.