San Jose State student punched, kicked in alleged anti-gay attack

Two men have been charged with hate crimes after prosecutors alleged they attacked a San Jose State University student early Saturday morning. 

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Josue Medina Flores, 19, of Sunnyvale, and Christian Gabriel Nunez Petty, 20, of Fremont, were each charged with felony assault with hate crime allegations, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday. They were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in San Jose. 

“If you hurt someone because of their race, religion, gender, or sexuality, you will be arrested and prosecuted,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. 

The attack happened around 3:45 a.m. on Sept. 19 as the student and two female friends walked across the downtown San Jose campus, prosecutors said. Flores and Nunez Petty allegedly asked the student whether he was gay and yelled anti-gay slurs as the group walked past. 

After the student and his friends continued walking, prosecutors allege the two men ran after him, punched him in the head more than two dozen times and kicked him while continuing to use homophobic slurs. 

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When one of the student’s friends tried to shield him with her body, prosecutors said, the two men struck her as well. 

San Jose State University police arrived during the attack and arrested the two men as they fled before they could leave campus, prosecutors said. The student was treated at a hospital and later released. University security cameras captured the attack. 

Flores and Nunez Petty face prison time if convicted.