Marine reservist accused of attacking priest

[unhappycamper]

Marine reservist accused of attacking priest
Matt Sedensky
Posted : Tuesday Nov 10, 2009 20:30:16 EST

TAMPA, Florida — A Marine reservist accused of attacking a Greek Orthodox priest with a tire iron after apparently calling him a terrorist and a robber now says he was sexually attacked by the cleric, his defense attorney said Tuesday.

Jeff Brown said Lance Cpl. Jasen Bruce, 28, had been followed into the parking garage of his Tampa apartment building about 6:30 p.m. Monday by the Rev. Alexios Marakis, who then made sexual comments and grabbed the reservist’s genitals. Brown denounced the Tampa Police Department’s account of the incident as “one-sided” and “tainted.”

“We are confident that the surveillance videos, the long 911 call, the eyewitnesses will all conclusively show that Lance Cpl. Bruce was attacked and was the victim in this case,” Brown said.

But the Tampa Police report offered a far different account, saying Marakis was lost when he followed Bruce into the garage and asked for help, then was struck with the tire iron and chased several blocks. When officers arrived, Bruce called Marakis a terrorist and said the priest had shouted “Allahu akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great.”

Tampa Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said Bruce made no mention of a sexual attack in his call to police, referencing it later when officers arrived, after offering other excuses for the bloodied man. “One was that he tried to rob him. The other was that he was an Arab terrorist and shouted “Allahu akbar” and he explained that ‘That’s what they say before they blow you up.’ And then he said that he grabbed his genitals and wanted to have sex with him. He gave various accounts of what happened,” she said.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/11/111009ap_priestattacked/

[stray cat]

1. Poor misunderstood stressed out reservist -

:sarcasm: