Gay Couple Brutally Attacked In NYC BBQ Restaurant

A gay couple dining at a NYC BBQ restaurant in Chelsea was violently attacked by two men over a spilled drink.

DNAinfo has the details:

A gay couple was bashed over the head with a wooden chair, knocked to the ground and kicked by two men hurling anti-gay slurs at the Chelsea Dallas BBQ Tuesday night, in an attack captured on a graphic video, according to police and the victims. "These guys attacked us specifically because they knew we weren't their type of people," said Jonathan Snipes, 32, who had a tooth knocked loose and cartilage snapped in his ear during the beating.

"It was disgusting. It was awful," Snipes, who was attacked alongside his boyfriend Ethan York-Adams, 25, told DNAinfo New York. In one video, York-Adams, 25, tries to shield Snipes by throwing his arm around his shoulder just before a man rushes up to them with a wooden chair and cracks it over their heads. York-Adams falls to the floor and Snipes slumps into a nearby chair, visibly dazed. An NYPD spokesman said an investigation is ongoing, but that the incident was not currently being investigated as a hate crime.

At the restaurant, Snipes got a text about a death in his family and needed to leave the restaurant quickly, he said. As he headed out, he accidentally knocked over a drink, he said. "A table near us audibly started making pretty gross comments about the two of us like, 'White faggots, spilling drinks,'" Snipes said. "I don't let anyone talk to me like that. I went over there and asked, 'What did you say about us?'" he added. The man knocked Snipes to the ground and started kicking his face and spine, knocking loose one of his teeth, snapping the cartilage in his ear and bruising his head, he said. He shouted, "Take that, faggot," according to Snipes.

No charges have been filed at this time.

The first video is the blindside attack with the chair. Warning: Graphic violence.

Second view shows the assailant attacking and kicking the victims leading up to the assault with the chair:

(h/t JMG)