Dover man shouted slurs, punched man, grabbed privates of two at pride festival, police say

Josephine Peterson | The News Journal

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A 31-year-old man was charged with a hate crime after he punched a man, yelled homosexual slurs, grabbed private body parts of both a man and a woman, and resisted arrest at the Delaware Pride Festival earlier this month, police said.

Sean Wiley told officers responding to a fight on Legislative Hall that he had punched a 62-year-old man. The victim was bleeding from his mouth, Master Cpl. Mark Hoffman of Dover police said.

Officers asked Wiley about the fight, and he was shouting homosexual slurs at the man and others at the August 11 festival. He was showing obvious signs of alcohol intoxication at the time, Hoffman said.

He also grabbed the private parts of a 46-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man who were both at the festival, Hoffman said.

When officers tried to get an ID card from Wiley, he swung at one of them. He was arrested and brought back to the station, where he was charged with three counts of offensive touching, third-degree assault, menacing, disordering conduct, public intoxication, third-degree trespass, and resisting arrest. His bond was set at $3,900 secured.

Police investigated the incident further and got a warrant for Wiley on a hate crime charge.

Thursday after he turned himself in, Hoffman said, and he was arraigned with a $500 secured bond.

Wiley was committed to the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, but has since been released on bond.

Contact Josephine Peterson at (302) 324-2856, jhpeterson@delawareonline.com, or Twitter at @jopeterson93.