Posted on 06/17/2015 5:36:12 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The man accused of bashing a gay couple with a chair in a Chelsea barbecue restaurant surrendered to cops Tuesday — but hasn’t been arrested on hate-crime charges because he’s gay, too, police sources said.
Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, 41, surrendered to NYPD Hate Crime detectives at the Seventh Precinct with his attorney and was charged with assault and attempted assault. His arraignment was pending Tuesday night.
A police source said El-Amin wasn’t charged with a hate crime because the Bronx man was gay and the attack wasn’t motivated by hatred of homosexuals.
El-Amin allegedly slammed a chair over the heads of Jonathan Snipes, 32, and Ethan York-Adams, 25, during a brawl inside a Dallas BBQ on Eighth Ave. near W. 23rd St. on May 5.
According to a jaw-dropping video taken during the fight, the 6-foot-6 El-Amin began stomping one of his two victims before several patrons started pulling him back. York-Adams and Snipes appear to be egging El-Amin on, then turned their backs to him, the video shows. A split-second later, El-Amin picks up a chair and brings it down on their heads.
Writing on the blog The G-List, El-Amin said that he was attacked first.
"I was the victim ... I was sitting at my table," he wrote. "With no provocation, he came up and hit me. There was no slur thrown at him."El-Amin’s attorney, Brian Hutchinson, said his client’s sexual orientation wasn’t discussed with detectives.
“(The detectives) showed us the entire video from the restaurant, and it was determined that he was not the aggressor,” he said “(Snipes and York-Adams) made sexuality an issue.”
Snipes couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
How is Hate Crime Law even remotely Constitutional?
He told the police to avoid prosecution, maybe didn’t think it would be published. Hmm...wonder if he will now be punished by his religious leaders?
And old habits die hard.
It’s not, because you have to be able to actually prove someone guilty of a criminal action. I have heard bs comparidons stating that we judge thought based on the degree of the murder. When details of how the person was murdered, such as not trying to call for medical assistance, burying the body, etc. Are good indication that the murder was planned.
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