Maryland students charged with hate crimes [Video]

Fifteen students at Salisbury University in Maryland are facing assault and hate crime charges after they allegedly targeted a man “due to his sexual preferences” and lured him to an off-campus apartment where they beat him, police said.

Police say a man was invited “under false pretenses” to an apartment in Salisbury, where a group of men immediately surrounded him upon entry, forced him into a chair in the living room and then proceeded to kick, punch and spit on him while calling him derogatory names, police said.

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The students, all men ranging in age from 18 to 21, were charged with first-degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and associated hate crimes in connection with the October 15 incident, the Salisbury Police Department said this month in news releases.

“An investigation revealed that the …