Gay Basher Sentenced For Pushing Victim Onto Active Train Tracks

An attacker pushed his victim onto active train tracks because he didn’t like gay people. He was not charged with a hate crime but still sentenced to jail. 

A one-year jail sentence was handed down to the 20-year-old Washington, D.C. man who pushed another man onto the Navy Yard Metro station tracks because he “looked gay.”

Raheem S. Sills pled guilty on May 11 to a charge of attempted assault with a dangerous weapon. According to the affidavit, a group of males, including Sills, approached the victim on the platform of the Navy Yard Metro station about 10:50 p.m. on March 10. Sills allegedly slapped the victim on the back of the head, took his cell phone, and stole about $80 in cash just before shoving the victim onto the tracks.

According to the Washington Blade, the Metro security footage played in court also showed Sills picking up a cone-shaped, four-foot-tall plastic “wet floor” sign and using it to repeatedly strike the victim. At the time of his arrest, Sills told police that he attacked the victim because he “looked gay” and that he didn’t like gay people or men who “act like women.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dineen Baker asked Judge Yvonne Williams for a suggested sentence of only 14 months. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office told the Blade that they were considering charging Sills with a hate crime, but decided not to pursue that route because the “defendant quickly took responsibility for his actions and pled guilty.”  

“Did you tell police you don’t like gay people?” Judge Williams asked Sills before she handed down her sentence on July 15. The defendant nodded his head in agreement. The judge sentenced him to one year in jail and ordered that he be placed on supervised probation for two years upon his release.

What are your thoughts on this case and the sentencing terms? Is one year enough punishment for pushing someone onto active train tracks? Should this have been treated as a hate crime? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Image by bootbearwdc via Flickr and a CC license