Three Occupy Oakland protesters charged with robbery & violent, homophobic hate crimes

From Reuters:

Three Occupy Oakland protesters accused of surrounding and taunting a woman before stealing her wallet were charged on Friday with robbery and hate crimes, authorities said.

Michael Davis, 32, Nneka Crawford, 23, and Randolph Wilkins, 24, confronted the woman on the streets of Oakland in February after she told them not to riot in her neighborhood, the Oakland Police said in a written release.

"She was surrounded by three protestors and battered as they yelled vulgar epithets regarding their perception of her sexual orientation," Oakland Police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said...

"Her wallet was taken during the crime," Watson said. "The victim broke away from the group and called police, who were able to arrest one suspect near the scene."

Watson said the other two suspects were arrested at a February 29 Occupy Oakland protest.

Each was charged by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office with felony counts of robbery and hate crimes, Watson said.

An Occupy Oakland organizer could not be reached for comment on Friday evening.

If Tea Party protesters had robbed this woman and yelled vulgar epithets regarding "their perception of the victim's sexual orientation" - it would have been a prominent story on all the major TV networks. The victim might even have received a telephone call from President Obama, who, no doubt, would have highlighted the Tea Party protesters' violent, homophobic assault. But of course, these weren't Tea Party members; they were part of the Obama Occupy movement - hence this story ends up on the bottom of the pile, and is quickly swept under the rug....