Couple Faces Hate Crimes Charges After Fight Over Parking

A hate crime charge was added today against a Palm Springs couple accused of assaulting two men in connection with an altercation that stemmed from an argument over a parking spot because police said they used gay slurs.

The hate crime allegation carries an additional prison sentence of two to four years if Russell Allen Bates, 24, and Abigail Monet Sheehy, 19, are convicted. Each battery count could lead to a sentence of up to four years in prison.

Both denied the additional allegations today.

“We believe, after a review of the case, based on the comments that were made by Mr. Bates and Ms. Sheehy during the battery, the hate crime allegations were appropriate under the circumstances,” Deputy District Attorney Brian Bolland said.

Both victims were hospitalized following the May 21 altercation in the parking lot of a strip mall in the 100 block of East Tahquitz Canyon Way.

Sheehy, who was freed from custody on a $40,000 bond, is facing two felony counts of battery — both which carry the enhancement for allegedly committing a felony against a person of a specific race, sex or religion. Bates, who remains jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail, faces one felony battery count and the enhancement charge.

Before the attack, the two men — who are owners of a business in the downtown strip mall — asked the couple to move their car because it was parked in a spot reserved for the store.

An argument ensued and the couple then attacked the two men, ages 43 and 63, once the business owners began taking pictures of them, according to police.

Bates and Sheehy then began punching the men with closed fists while yelling derogatory comments directed at their sexual orientation, police said.

One of the men had teeth knocked out during the attack and both suffered bruises and cuts, police said.

Bolland said Sheehy is being prosecuted for battery on both men, because evidence shows that a female injured the second victim.

“We don’t know whether (Bates) battered the second victim, but we know the female did,” Bolland said. “He had scratches on his arms to prove that.”

The couple’s 4-year-old son, present at the time of the crime, but uninjured, was brought to a relative’s home upon the pair’s arrest and the case was turned over to Child Protective Services, according to police.

Located at Ruth Hardy Park, the defendants were taken into custody one day after the attack. Officers identified the couple based on the photos taken before the attack and surveillance footage from a neighboring business.