Man arrested in assault being called a hate crime

Police say suspect used slurs during his violent attack

A Palo Alto man was arrested on hate crime and assault charges after he allegedly used homophobic slurs and later hit a another man who lost unconsciousness and then threw a woman to the ground.

Alexander Joseph Furrier, 26, also repeatedly kicked a police dog and tried to choke it, according to Palo Alto police.

Furrier was booked into the Santa Clara County jail for felony battery, felony hate crime, felony assault on a police dog and misdemeanor resisting arrest.

Palo Alto police received a call at 1:32 a.m. Sunday of two men fighting near the intersection of University Avenue and Waverly Street. Police found Furrier, along with a man in his 60s and a woman in her 20s. Furrier took off.

The two victims know each other and earlier in the evening had been at a bar and house party. They left the house party with another man. The woman told police both men are gay.

Furrier began following the three as they walked and directed homophobic slurs at the men, When they got to University and Waverly, the two men and the woman split up.

“The suspect stayed with her despite her telling him to leave her alone,” police said in a news release. “The suspect refused and proceeded to say rude things to her.”

One of the men came to her aid, telling Furrier to leave her alone, according to police. Furrier then attacked the man, using more homophobic slurs as he punched him several times. When the woman tried to intervene, Furrier picked her up and threw her to the ground, police said. The man briefly lost consciousness.

Officers chased Furrier to a second-floor stairwell of an apartment complex in the 400 block of Everett. Officers, including a member of the crisis negotiation team, tried to get him to surrender, but he refused, according to police. He was warned they would send a police dog after him but he still refused to comply, police said.

A police dog was used to take him into custody.

“The suspect kicked the police dog repeatedly in the head and attempted to choke the dog between his legs until the officers were able to get the suspect safely handcuffed and in custody,” police said in the news release.

Furrier was taken to a local hospital to treat multiple lacerations to the lower leg from a dog bite.

The man sustained a laceration to the back of the head and was taken to the hospital for observation of a possible head injury. The woman said she was not injured. The police dog suffered a curt above an eye and a possible paw injury, and was to be evaluated by a veterinarian.