CHELSEA — A man police said attacked a couple with a chair in a Dallas BBQ has been arrested, according to authorities.
Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, 41, of The Bronx, turned himself in and was charged with two counts of felony assault and two counts of attempted felony assault for hitting two men with chairs at the Chelsea Dallas BBQ on May 5.
The assaults were not considered hate crimes, NYPD said.
One of the alleged victims in the brawl, Jonathan Snipes, initially said that he and his date were targeted because they were gay.
“These guys attacked us specifically because they knew we weren't their type of people," Snipes, 32, told DNAinfo after the incident. Local politicians leafletted outside the restaurant to protest anti-gay violence two days later.
The man who recorded a widely-circulated video of the incident, Julius Pateman, told DNAinfo that not only was the attack not a hate crime, it was a defensive response to a first strike by Snipes.
“The initial altercation was when Jonathan came over toward the table where El-Amin was sitting,” Pateman, 35, said. “He attempted to swing at him. It was really a soft, innocent swing, but it was a swing.”
"It was Cinco de Mayo, so I think everyone was drunk," he added."I don’t understand how it [could be] a hate crime because he didn’t attack him because he was gay, he attacked him because he was attacked.”
Snipes could not immediately be reached for comment.
El-Amin will face at least a year in prison for each assault if convicted. He could not be reached for comment.
