When In Doubt: Lie!

I've mentioned before fake hate crimes here--cases where someone claimed to have been a victim because their sexual orientation (and much more rarely, because of race) where it turned out that not only was the crime not based on bias--but the only crime was when the "victim" lied to the police about it. Here's another case where it isn't clear who told the lie, but the medical examiner and police concluded that he died of natural causes:

DETROIT (AP) — Police said Wednesday that an elderly gay man whose death became a national focus for gay rights advocates based on reports he had been fatally attacked because of his sexual orientation actually died of natural causes.

"There's no evidence that an assault occurred," police spokesman James Tate said Wednesday.

The death of Andrew Anthos, 72, last month drew wide attention, and was cited on the floor of Congress by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., as evidence of the need to extend hate crime legislation to gays.

But the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office concluded that Anthos fell because he had an arthritic neck, and detectives were unable to find witnesses to a beating, police said.

"They determined that he died of natural causes," Tate told The Detroit News.

"So the case will be closed," homicide unit supervisor Lt. Linda Vertin told the Detroit Free Press.