Gay handcuffs

One guy authoritatively stated that these were clearly one-time-only cuffs that would have to be sawed off.

The gathering knot of sailors at intake attracted the Chief Petty Officer’s attention. “She was a nice person.” Shrader knew about the Handcuff Man, who had attacked another of his friends. That was always an opening for me to bellow out, “don’t tell me you’re gonna CRY or something.” That was always enough to get him blubbering.

I was always on the lookout for their reactions. But the man in the car on Ponce, as the thoroughfare is commonly known, didn’t come off like a predator. He cried out for help when he had the energy. Shrader collapsed to the ground. In her words, she got “nothing but runaround.” Because of the victim’s profile, the police had designated the attack a bias crime.

Kirkland was married with kids; he wasn’t gay, but he was compassionate toward the Gallus’s clientele. The Gallus had a “barred book” filled with photos of people who weren’t allowed on the premises; bartenders were supposed to check it at the start of their shifts so they could eject any banned patrons. A sex worker said that the Handcuff Man had picked him up in Piedmont Park in 1977, asked him to take shots of liquor, then assaulted him.

“At first I thought he was 30 to 35 and very dirty. The Atlanta Gay Center began offering sensitivity training for cops, but feedback was mixed. Jordan jumped at the chance to earn some easy cash and agreed to meet the man at the corner of Fifth and Juniper Streets.

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Ships always had their own supply as well. Kirkland, an Atlanta cop, worked security a few nights a week at the Gallus.

They left a business card and said to call if he wanted to talk. I discreetly double locked them, and said nothing to either my partner or Jackson about the unusual cuffs. “He really cared,” Hunnewell said. Sometimes he handcuffed his victims to poles—hence his sinister nickname.

There were men who said they’d narrowly escaped the Handcuff Man, and rumors that some of his victims hadn’t survived.

It was no problem to get him into the leg irons and handcuffs; he was all talk and he did not really resist, even through he lambasted us nonstop.