A D.C. man says he and his partner were attacked by employees of a Shake Shack restaurant in Dupont Circle because they are gay.
Christian Dingus, 28, said it happened Saturday evening after a store employee told them to stop kissing.
“He kind of interrupted us and said, ‘Hey, stop. You can’t be doing that here,'” Dingus told WTOP.
According to Dingus, the comment made his partner upset.
“He was like, ‘We’re not doing anything wrong,'” he said.
His partner was escorted out of the restaurant, moving the confrontation from inside the restaurant to the sidewalk. From there, Dingus said the incident escalated.
According to Dingus, several additional employees came over. He said after attempting to defuse the situation from the doorway of the store, he got more involved when the group had his partner backed up against a brick wall.
“I stepped fully outside, and at that point, raised my voice for the first time, where I was like, ‘Hey, stop, leave him alone,’” Dingus said.
He said after waving his hands in the air, he was targeted.
“I was pushed and pretty quickly after that, it’s kind of a blur. But I just know I was jumped on by multiple of them at that point, getting punched in my face, in my head, falling to the ground, and then while I was on the ground, continued to be hit in my head and my body for what seemed like forever,” Dingus said.
Video captured by those inside the restaurant shows employees wearing Shake Shack uniforms hitting the man and others pulling him away, as customers looked on from inside the restaurant.
Dingus said he’s not sure who broke things up.
When the police arrived, they spoke with the employees of the restaurant and, according to Dingus, told him it would be best if he left the area.
According to a police report, one of the people involved claimed Dingus “placed his hands on his neck” and that “he was defending himself.”
“I was on the ground with multiple people hitting me with my hands on my head. Did I have my hand on all their necks? Kind of just absurd,” Dingus said.
He also claimed some videos of what happened that have appeared online also discredit that claim.
Dingus said his jaw was injured and he suffered a concussion.
In a statement to WTOP, Shake Shack said the employees involved have been suspended as the restaurant investigates what took place.
Police said it is also still investigating the incident as a hate crime for which the motivation may be “Sexual Orientation — Anti-Gay.”
For Dingus, he said he moved to D.C. with the hope of living in a place where he can be comfortable being who he is, and only recently became comfortable with expressing physical affection in public.
“For me to finally be comfortable to do that, and in a place that I deem safe, to be kind of torn away that quickly is just … it’s pretty awful,” he said.
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