Suspect In Dallas BBQ Gay-Bashing Turns Himself In To Police
A suspect in a violent assault against two gay men in a New York restaurant has turned himself into police.
CBS 2 in New York reports that, after being on the lam for a month, Banya El-Amin surrendered with his attorney on Tuesday. He is being held on bail and faces assault and attempted assault charges.
Back in May, Jonathan Snipes and his boyfriend, Ethan York-Adam, were involved in a violent incident at a Dallas BBQ in Chelsea.
They claim that, after Snipes accidentally spilled a drink, El-Amin and his friends called them "faggots" and began kicking and punching them.
A man fitting El-Amin's description was filmed throwing a chair at Snipes knocking him to the ground.
But El-Amin, who is reportedly gay himself, denies their account of the assault, blaming it on the "racist gay media."
“I was the victim," he insists. "I was sitting at my table. With no provocation, he came up and hit me. There was no slur thrown at him."
El-Amin insists the only interaction he had with Snipes and York-Adam was when he saw them fighting with each other.
"The fight threatened to spill over to the table of ladies that were closest to them... So, I said ‘Hey, guys! There are ladies here.' Then he came over to me and said, ‘And YOU calling us ladies?!’ Then, POW!”
