(KCPW News) Nearly a month after a 20-year-old gay man was attacked outside a Salt Lake City dance club, police still have a lot of investigating to do. Police Chief Chris Burbank says it could be a hate crime, but law enforcement officers are also investigating whether Dane Hall’s brutal assault could have been drug-related.
“The subject may or may not be known to Mr. Hall, and so, yeah, we are looking at that, we have heard that, I have heard that walking the streets as I’ve been down there, and so we’re investigating all avenues,” he says.
Burbank says it’s been very difficult to find credible witnesses due to so many people getting involved over social media.
He says at one point, there was more information going out on Twitter and Facebook than there was coming into the police department.
“I mean that is going to be the hamper in this investigation is that there was so much information put out in different avenues that what is the truth of exactly what took place and who can account for that and actually stand up in court and say ‘yes, I know this person did this,'” the chief says.
Hall was attacked August 26th outside Club Sound, leaving him severely injured with a broken jaw after being attacked by a group of men he says were shouting anti-gay slurs. The assault has spurred local community gatherings in support of Hall and denouncing hate crimes.
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