A Colorado Mesa University (CMU) football player stands accused of assaulting a lesbian woman in a fight outside a local bar.
As ABC 7 News is reporting, 20-year-old Shane Williams allegedly had a verbal exchange with Chelsea Gallagher and her girlfriend Ashley Davis that turned into a violent physical fight in which he slammed her onto the pavement, like a football tackle. Gallagher said she was knocked out cold, but ended up with a fractured skull.
"Going outside to leave...is when they started kind of making comments about us being gay and saying that Ashley looked like a boy and stuff," Gallagher, who is continuing her recovery in the hospital, said.
Davis said a man named Dakota had begun yelling homophobic slurs at both her and Gallagher, along with two other women, before the assault. Davis said she and Dakota "ended up in a little bit of a scuffle, some pushing and what not," at which point Gallagher tried to break them up.
Police said Williams was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault, possession of a fake ID, and being a minor in possession of alcohol. Formal charges have currently not been filed.
CMU officials have yet to comment on the incident, but one of the university's Gay Straight Alliance group members has nonetheless condemned the incident. "Unfortunately [being gay] makes you a target," Sarah Swedberg told KJCT 8.
Still, Gallagher added, "I'm not going to stop being who I am. So, just hopefully I don't have to deal with something like this again."