PROVINCETOWN — Over two days last week, two different bias crimes are alleged to have happened on Bradford Street: a physical attack on a gay man near the intersection of Bradford and Howland streets in the early morning hours of June 30, and a series of slurs that were hurled from a moving vehicle on Bradford near Winthrop Street on the evening of July 1.
The Provincetown police are investigating the first incident, including a review of security camera footage from homes around Howland Street, Police Chief Greg Hennick and Town Manager Alex Morse told the Independent on July 7. The police dept. learned about that attack from a social media post during the day on June 30, Morse said, and encouraged the victim to come to the police station and file a report.
A witness to the second incident, the yelling of slurs from a moving vehicle on July 1, contacted the police as it was unfolding, Hennick said, and as a result the police were able to apprehend the vehicle that same evening and identify the occupants. The department filed two charges of disorderly conduct against each of the three people in the vehicle in Orleans District Court on July 3.
The men who were charged are Ryan Mahimtura, 19, of Framingham; Henry Ward, 19, of Hudson; and a person under age 18, also of Hudson, according to a news release from the town.
The person who reported the slurs on July 1 — who asked to be identified only by his first name, John — told the Independent that around 9:30 p.m. he was riding his bicycle west on Bradford Street near Winthrop Street when he heard the occupants of the car yell at him, “Go kill yourself,” followed by an anti-gay slur.
John said he also heard the occupants yell the same phrase, followed by an anti-Black slur, at a Jamaican man walking nearby.
John told the Independent that he turned his bicycle around and tried to follow the car, eventually getting video footage of it and its license plate, which he gave to the police.
Chief Hennick confirmed that the department received that video footage and said that another person called the police the next day to report that the vehicle’s occupants had yelled anti-gay slurs at him that same evening while he was walking on Bradford Street Extension near Telegraph Hill Road.
That is why there are two charges of disorderly conduct for each of the vehicle’s occupants, Hennick said.
The Provincetown police and the State Police Hate Crimes Awareness and Response Team, which was established in 2023, are considering whether to file further charges involving civil rights violations, Hennick and Morse said.
The man who was allegedly assaulted near Howland Street on June 30, Chris Kostka, told NBC News in Boston that he had been enjoying a weekend visit to Provincetown when he was shoved to the ground from behind and then repeatedly kicked by three assailants. He said they used anti-gay slurs while attacking him, then got into a black Lexus and drove away.
“We’ve found footage of our victim” in the area, Hennick told the Independent on July 7. “We’re still in the process of collecting surveillance footage to tie it all together, so that is still very much under investigation.”
The Town’s Response
Hennick said that before these two events, the most recent anti-gay incident documented in Provincetown police reports was in December 2017, when a man from Truro approached a patron seated at the Underground Bar on Commercial Street and hit him over the head with a beer bottle while saying anti-gay slurs.
That person was charged with assault and battery with a weapon, and “interference with civil rights” charges were added later, Hennick said. According to a Cape Cod Times report from 2019, the attacker, Scott Rego, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in the county jail on the assault charge and an additional six months on the civil rights charge.
The town held a public forum on July 8 to discuss the recent events with residents and to outline the police dept.’s response and its advice for people worried about their safety.
Before the forum, Morse told the Independent that people should not feel the need to accept slurs as a normal part of life.
“If someone drives by and calls us a f—, it never feels good, but sometimes we just sort of say, ‘It is what it is’ — it’s just something we have to accept as a gay person,” Morse said. “I think we want people to know it’s not something we should accept, particularly here in Provincetown, and while we may not always be able to file charges, depending on the details of the incident, it’s important to react seriously when we can.
“It’s also important to call and file a report to document an incident,” Morse continued, “so that if the same people come back to town and do the same thing, we have grounds for more secure charges.”
Hennick said that the police dept.’s safety tips include “charging your phone before you go out for the night, making sure you don’t walk alone, and being aware of your surroundings.”
If it is safe to take photos or video, those can become helpful evidence, according to guidance from the police, but it is important never to put yourself at risk to photograph license plates, the advice cautions.
“Provincetown is a very safe community, and we don’t want to make people feel like they need to be constantly on guard,” Morse told the Independent. “We’ve seen over the holiday weekend that people are still going to experience joy.
“But it’s important to remember that even in Provincetown there’s a risk of something happening, so we encourage people to make good decisions, surround themselves with friends, and keep their phone charged,” he said.
