The first casualty in the coming war?
By BRIAN M. SCHLETER, Staff Writer
A Baltimore man will spend a year in jail for verbally and physically assaulting two Middle Eastern men working at a Glen Burnie gas station.
Dennis O. Coe, 33, insisted he was not a racist, but pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of engaging in a religious or ethnic hate crime, a misdemeanor. In exchange, prosecutors dropped assault charges that carry potentially stiffer sentences.
"That was the most descriptive of the crime he committed," said Assistant State's Attorney Laura Kiessling.
She heads a special unit started in August 2001.
"This is an issue that needs to be punished because of the significance of the crime," Circuit Court Judge David S. Bruce said. "It just can't be tolerated."
By all accounts, Mr. Coe was extremely intoxicated on July 30 when he went into the Shell station at 501 S. Crain Highway and started throwing merchandise.
He made numerous racial slurs about the mens' ethnic background and blamed them for the deaths in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. He punched one man in the face and swung at the other, who was shielding his 6-year-old daughter, Ms. Kiessling said.
The incident so traumatized the young girl that her father sold the gas station. However, the two men requested to have Mr. Coe's sentence include alcohol treatment, she said.
"It's the state's concern that alcohol only lowered his inhibitions. Clearly his actions were racially motivated," she said.
The victims weren't in court and couldn't be reached for comment.
Mr. Coe said he doesn't remember much of the incident because he was so drunk.
"I am not a racist," he said. "This was all because of a relapse of alcohol."
Mr. Coe's rap sheet includes 13 convictions for petty crimes, many of which resulted from his long battle with alcoholism, said his attorney, Elizabeth Palan of the Public Defender's Office.
"Treatment is obviously what's necessary. He has made attempts to go sober before. It doesn't always work the first time," she told Judge Bruce.
The judge imposed the maximum three years, then suspended two. After his release Mr. Coe will be on probation for two years and must attend anger management classes.
But Judge Bruce said Mr. Coe had to learn a lesson.
"I think a significant penalty is appropriate so that the next time you'll think twice before you go out and get hammered," he said.
The case is the first successful prosecution of a hate crime involving Muslims and people who are or appear to be of Middle Eastern descent in Anne Arundel County since Sept. 11, 2001. A second case in which a Brooklyn Park man is charged with assaulting and racially harassing his neighbors is awaiting trial.
Incidents targeting people, institutions and businesses identified with the Islamic faith increased nationwide from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001 -- a jump of 1,600 percent.
The increases, the FBI said, happened "presumably as a result of the heinous incidents that occurred on Sept. 11."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.