Police Identify Violent Career Criminal As Assailant In Horrific Chelsea Gay-Bashing
The NYPD has identified 41-year-old "career criminal" Bayna El-Amin as the assailant who violently attacked a gay couple in a New York City Dallas BBQ restaurant earlier this month.
In video released after the May 5 beating, a man police believe to be El-Amin can be seen bashing one of the gay men over the head with a wooden chair. According to witnesses, the altercation began with a spilled drink and the assailant repeatedly called his victims "white faggots."
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said El-Amin is on the run and has most likely fled the state.
Police haven't released details about El-Amin's criminal past, but Gawker has linked him to several crimes listed on Internet databases:
A cursory internet search reveals several clues into El-Amin’s criminal past. In 2005, he was arrested for violating probation and for failure to appear in court. In 2006, he was locked up for about three months on a forgery charge, according to Mugshots.com, which also lists invasion of privacy, credit card fraud, a violation of Georgia Controlled Substance Act, and a miscellaneous misdemeanor.
Preliminary searches also seem to confirm speculation that El-Amin himself is gay and active in New York's ballroom community. According to Gawker, a YouTube page attributed to El-Amin left a comment praising a voguing queen named Edwin: "edwin ate her they sleep on him," he wrote.
Speaking to the Daily News, Patricia Snipes, the mother of 32-year-old victim Jonathan Snipes, said footage of her son being attacked was almost unbearable to watch. "At least he was not killed," she said. "It could have been very, very bad."
She added: "It was hard to look at. I looked through it all. In my heart I'm having a very difficult time. There's nothing I can do right now. All I can do is pray. I'm proud to be his mother and I'm worried to death about him."
