Hot springs beating not hate crime: police

A Calgary man will not be charged with a hate crime after an alleged beating at a remote British Columbia hot spring, police say.

Nakusp RCMP now say there isn't enough evidence to suggest it was a hate crime. The recommended charge is assault.

"I don't know what the motive was," said Cpl. Bryson Hill. "We have heard everybody's side of it. We can only go on that. There really isn't anything at this point to suggest it was hate motivated."

The charge is now before the Crown attorney's office in Nelson.

Earlier this year, Hill said homophobia was the suspected motive  for the attack.

Two men from Burnaby had made their way on skis to the St. Leon's hot spring and were in one of the pools when two men and a woman joined them on Dec. 29, 2010.

The group socialized for hours before the skiers revealed they were a gay couple and that's when they were attacked, police said at the time. The suspect is accused of beating one of the men while his partner ran into the bush.

After a public appeal for help in finding the suspect, Calgary police assisted in arresting a 44-year-old man.

The hot spring, St. Leon's, is 25 kilometres north of Nakusp.