The lawyer of one of the three people charged in the beating of a gay couple in Center City spoke out about offensive comments his client made on her Twitter account.
The tweets from Kathryn Knott, which were posted on her account back in 2012, made the rounds on the Internet Wednesday. Several people called her tweets homophobic.
Knott’s attorney Louis Busico spoke to NBC10’s Denise Nakano about the tweets. While he acknowledged they were offensive, he also defended his client.
“She was a young girl in her 20’s who used offensive language,” Busico said. “I’m asking people to consider that these tweets are not a reflection of her true character.”
Knott works as an Emergency Room tech at Lansdale Hospital. Officials at Abington Health told NBC10 they suspended her from her job due to the charges against her. They also say they are investigating several tweets Knott posted on her account, including one that appears to show the severed fingers of a patient.
"We are investigating an additional issue that was brought to our attention related to this employee's Twitter account for potential violations of patient privacy and our organization's social media policy," a spokesperson for Abington Health wrote in an official statement. "Abington Health takes patient privacy and confidentiality very seriously and is fully investigating this matter."
Knott, Kevin Harrigan and Philip Williams surrendered to Philadelphia Police Wednesday morning after they were accused of viciously beating a gay couple in Center City back on Sept. 11. Knott is also the daughter of Chalfont, Pennsylvania’s Police Chief Karl Knott.
The attorneys for all three suspects claim the incident was not related to anyone’s sexual orientation but was instead a “mutual confrontation.” One attorney even claimed one of the victims started the fight by punching a woman who the group was with.
Police sources and witnesses said however that the suspects started the confrontation by asking one of the victims, “is this your f*****g boyfriend?” and then hurled homophobic slurs while attacking them.
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Busico claimed Knott was not involved in the fight and didn’t hurl any insults against the couple.
Knott, Harrigan and Williams are charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy and reckless endangerment.
