Southie couple claims lack of police response to anti-gay threats

On Oct. 23 around 6:30 p.m., Sven Koppany and Michael Fay, recent transplants to Southie living near the intersection of E Street and Broadway, were enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and preparing to give their first floor condo a thorough cleaning when they suddenly heard someone pounding on the metal security bars on their windows. They turned toward the windows and saw a group of three young people in their late teens, two men and one woman, going from window to window and banging their fists against the bars. Koppany told Bay Windows the teens shouted at the men to let them into the condo so they could look around. The couple said no.

"And then they got really mad. And the first thing that came out of their mouth was, 'Fuck you, faggot,'" said Koppany.

He said the teens continued shouting obscenities and anti-gay slurs at them and spat at them through the bars. Eventually the obscenities turned to threats.

"Then they made it to the front door and started kicking the front door ... screaming, 'We're going to come in there and get you two faggots,'" said Koppany.

He said Fay opened the door and shouted at them to leave, brandishing the phone and threatening to call 911. As Fay began dialing the teens left, but Koppany said that as they were leaving they warned the couple that they would come back that evening to "get you faggots."

Koppany said that he and his partner hoped the police would intervene and ensure that the couple would be safe if the teens kept their word and returned to attack them later that evening. But it took three calls to 911 before the men finally received a response from police. Around 11 p.m., more than four hours after their first 911 call, an officer phoned and asked for details of the incident. Koppany said he wondered if the slow response by police was motivated, in part, by homophobia.

While Fay related the details of the incident to the 911 operator, Koppany went out to flag down an officer he saw walking down Broadway. He said when he reached the officer the teens were still in view further down Broadway, and he said he told the officer what had happened. Koppany said the officer told him he could not respond because he was heading to a traffic duty assignment, and he recommended Koppany call 911.

When Koppany returned home Fay told him the 911 operator was sending an officer to their condo. After waiting a half hour, Koppany left to go pick up the couple's dry cleaning a few blocks away while Fay stayed home to wait for the police. On his way to the dry cleaner Koppany said he spotted the teens from a distance, still wandering around the neighborhood. He said had the police responded promptly Koppany could likely have pointed the perpetrators out to them.

After picking up his dry cleaning Koppany said he walked to the nearby District C-6 police station to ask about the status of their 911 call. He said the officer on duty was unaware of the incident. Koppany said he described what happened earlier in the evening, but when he described the teens kicking at their door and calling them faggots the officer interrupted him.

"As soon as I say that he cuts me off and starts screaming at me, really really super belligerent. ... He said things along the lines of, he did say, 'I'm not going to sit here and argue with you.' He said, 'If you want to call someone and complain, I'm the wrong person,'" recounted Koppany. He said the officer also directed him to call 911.

When he got home, he said, they called 911 again and were told that they had been removed from the queue because Fay had told the operator during his initial call that Koppany had left to seek assistance from the officer heading down Broadway. They asked the operator if they could fill out a police report about the incident, and the operator told them someone would drop by their home to help them file a report.

An hour and a half later Koppany said there was still no sign of the police. They called back one more time and were told that someone would call them to fill out the report over the phone. At about 11 p.m. Koppany said an officer called, and he took down the details of their altercation earlier that evening.

The teens did not return to the house that evening to retaliate.

The following day, Koppany said, a detective from the Community Disorders Unit called to learn more about the case. In contrast to the response the night before, Koppany said, the detective "was absolutely wonderful. And we basically went through everything that happened." The detective took photos of their neighborhood Oct. 29 and is investigating the incident. Two days later two Boston Police officers dropped by their home to check in on them and make sure there had been no more problems.

"I know there's an investigation going on, which makes me feel a little better about this," said Koppany. He said at the detective's recommendation he filed a complaint against the officer at the District C-6 station.

Despite feeling positive about the investigation by the Community Disorders Unit and the follow-up visit by BPD, Koppany said he and Fay were frustrated by the lack of a prompt response the evening of the incident by the police to what they saw as a hate crime.

"Three strangers are kicking at our door threatening to come in and do us harm because we're a couple of faggots, and it takes hours [to get a police response]. ... We were threatened in our own home and felt completely abandoned by BPD," Koppany said.

He also said that he worries that the fact that they were a gay couple could have influenced the officers' response.

"We're not one for conspiracy theories, but you can't help wonder if that didn't de-prioritize the incident in their minds," said Koppany.

Elaine Driscoll, spokesperson for the Boston Police Department, said the department will review the incident to determine what caused the delay in police response.

"I would say that we would apologize to them for having a negative experience. That's very unfortunate and not acceptable," said Driscoll "In a situation like that the best course of action is to dial 911, so therefore internally we'll look at that and find out what were the facts and circumstances around the incident and determine what caused a delay in a response to them."

When asked about the couple's concerns that anti-gay sentiment could have prompted the slow response, Driscoll said the department takes anti-gay hate crimes very seriously, and the Community Disorders Unit will investigate the incident to determine if, in fact, the incident was a hate crime.

"The police department takes incidents of that nature very seriously, and we have contacted the Community Disorders Unit to investigate the incident as well. It's very unfortunate that these individuals had a negative experience, but the police department takes those types of incidents very seriously," said Driscoll.

She said she was unable to identify the full name of Officer Gill at District C-6 before Bay Windows went to press.

Driscoll added that filing a complaint is the most effective way for the couple to respond to their dissatisfaction with the police response the night of the incident.

"The best option for these individuals is to come in and file a complaint if they did not have a positive experience. Every complaint that comes in is fully investigated and we take those very seriously," said Driscoll.