A 64-year-old Byzantine Catholic priest was brutally beaten Monday morning by an assailant hiding in the shadows of an Indiana church. The assailant choked the priest and beat his head into the floor over and over. But before the clergyman “blacked out”, the attacker sent a message that made this into a likely hate crime.
Hutsko said “the attacker grabbed him, choked him and threw him to the ground and knocked him unconscious,” Loya told WGN. “He was wearing gloves. Father Basil does not know who it was, but while he was attacking him, he heard the attacker say, ‘This is for all the kids!’”
The violent and sanctimonious criminal was likely referring to the decades-long history of pedophilia by 300 priests in Philadelphia.
The thing is this priest has never been accused of anything even remotely like that.
“He’s a good priest and like everybody said, he’s not accused of anything,” the Rev. Steven Koplinka from St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Parish in Munster told the Post-Tribune. “Why attack him?”
Reverend Andrew Summerson and Reverend Kopinka said that Reverend Hutsko is “an innocent man.”
“It’s just like they’re targeting the wrong guys, you know?” Koplinka said. “The rest of us try our best to be good priests and unfortunately this happened.”
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Reverend Hutsko was hospitalized and his condition is unknown. He was bruised and banged up when police arrived.
The attacker was white and driving a dark sedan.
