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OPD arrests assault suspect

Erin Fischesser, Editor in Chief

More than nine months after a member of the LGBTQ community was attacked following Spectrum's drag show, the Oxford Police Department (OPD) has made an arrest in the case.

Grant Rose, a 20-year-old former University of Kentucky (UK) student was arrested in early January and charged with assault, a first-degree misdemeanor.

According to OPD Sgt. Jim Squance, Rose was picked out of a photo lineup after extensive detective work along with UK police.

"(Detectives) did a little bit of good police work and did a photo lineup of the guys that were involved," Squance said.

According to Squance, a group of UK students were under investigation for the assault from the case's inception.

"The night of the assault at the Stadium Bar, that same night there were some cars damaged on College Corner Pike and there was a motel room that was trashed," Squance said, indicating the cars were along the way to the hotel where the UK students were staying.

"(Our detectives) saw the nature of basically drunken activity by a group of young men," Squance said.

According to Squance, the arrest was delayed because Rose had withdrawn from UK.

"We had to track him down and there was a lot of legwork involved since these kids weren't in our own backyard," Squance said.

According to Squance, the FBI was involved in the investigation for some time to determine whether or not it would be classified as a federal hate crime.

"Somewhere along the line the FBI said they weren't going to pursue it as a hate crime and gave it back to us," he said.

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Squance said the assault has sparked a dialogue across the university and Oxford communities, including the no hate initiatives that have taken various forms.

"Since this (incident) there has been a lot of very positive dialogue on this subject," Squance said.

Center for American and World Cultures faculty member Alysia Fischer said much of the dialogue and effort to combat hate has been spearheaded by students.

"We were really pleased although certainly not surprised about the amount of support (for students from students)," Fischer said.

Squance said the case shows hard work from OPD.

"We never let it die, and we pursued it and stuck with it," Squance said.

Fischer agreed.

"It was really important to (OPD) to find out what had happened and get some closure for people in the community," she said.

Rose will be tried in Area I Court. A pre-trial is scheduled for Feb. 8.