Edmonton Lesbian Violently Bashed Saturday, Police Have Yet To File A Report

A sickening story from Edmonton, Alberta, a lesbian violently attacked early Saturday morning while she and five friends walking home from a night out by a group of four men, the officer who responded to the 911 call failing to follow police protocol, as of Thursday, no police report has been filed. 31 year old Shannon Barry is recovering in an area hospital, post-surgery to implant two plates in her face, Barry suffering a broken jaw, a crushed left eye socket, and facial nerve damage, after being kicked in the face by a man who called her a “fucking dyke” before the attack. Dennis Gouchie, who was with Barry, said that the men were on the other side of the street when they began yelling homophobic slurs, then crossed the street to confront the group. “That’s when we stopped and turned around,” she said, “and I was just saying, ‘Ok, guys whoa. We’re ladies. Everybody calm down,’ and then I turned, and Shannon was on the ground.” Shannon, who admitted to police she was intoxicated at the time, then fell, stumbling on to one knew. At that point one of the four men kicked in the face so forcefully it knocked it backwards, leaving her unconscious. The attackers then fled. A 911 call was place, an ambulance arrived immediately, but it took thirty minutes to an officer to arrive. He took their names, but very little information. When Barry called city police Tuesday, she was told there was no record of the incident, and that the officer in question was off for four days. No one from the Edmonton Police Department, including the chief of police, has spoken on the record as of yet. Barry says that attack underlines a mistaken belief that hate directed towards gays is no longer an issue. “I think in this day and age, we’ve become complacent and passive about education the young to accept people’s differences, “she said, “ everyone’s under the assumption that we’re past all that, but it’s right here. It’s happening to people you know, that I know and love, all the time.”