Police are investigating a possible hate crime against a 21- year-old woman who said she was assaulted early Wednesday on the Pearl Street Mall after she told a man she was gay.
The attack happened just before 3 a.m. near 13th Street and Canyon Boulevard, said police spokeswoman Julie Brooks.
She told investigators that two men she met on the Pearl Street Mall made sexual comments to her after she offered them a place to stay for the night. She rejected their advances and told them she is gay, police said. That is when one of the men punched her and kicked her while she was down. The other man told the attacker to stop but did not physically intervene, police said.
The woman called police to report she had been assaulted, but she did not know where she was. Officers used a GPS signal from her mobile phone to find her.
The victim was transported to Boulder Community Hospital with severe injuries to her face. She was released from the hospital Wednesday.
Both suspects are described as white, between 18 and 21 years old, about 5-foot-7 and thin. One of the men had blond hair to his chin in a “Beatles-style” haircut and wore a dark, hooded sweat shirt, police said.
The other man had short, dark hair and wore a dress shirt with a sequined tie. He also had Mardi Gras beads around his neck.
The woman says she thought the second man had a name that began with the letter “D.”
Both men were wearing baggy jeans, and the victim thought the men said they were from California.
