Tag: Dallas BBQ

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"Dallas BBQ" Attacker Found Guilty; Faces 15 Years In Prison

Bayna-Lekheim El-Amin

Bayna-Lekheim El-Amin, 42, was found guilty of attempted assault in the first degree, and assault in the second degree for his participation in a brawl last year at a Dallas BBQ restaurant located in the Chelsea area of Manhattan

From the New York Post:

Lawyers for El-Amin argued during the one-week trial that he was trying to protect himself from Jonathan Snipes, 33, and his boyfriend Ethan Adams, 26.

“This is a case of self-defense,” Percy Diego Gayanilo said during the Manhattan Supreme Court trial. “We are only here because they arrested the wrong person.”

Snipes started the altercation May 5, 2015 when he slapped El-Amin in the face with his purse after he thought he heard him use a racial slur.

An all-out brawl ensued and Gayanilo claimed that El-Amin tossed the chair at the men after Snipes menacingly reached for a knife from a table. This was not corroborated by surveillance video or witness testimony.

Prosecutor Leah Saxtein argued that Snipes’ loud mouth and purse-slapping histrionics didn’t justify the vicious beatdown. She told jurors that El-Amin attacked the men out of rage, not fear.

“The defendant was angry, he was humiliated, and he wasn’t about to let these girly men get the last word,” she said.

El-Amin was convicted of four counts of assault and attempted assault. He faces up to 15 years on the top charge.

The District Attorney’s office issued a statement that read in part:

“There was no justification for this brutal attack,” said District Attorney Vance. “Bayna-Lekheim El-Amin struck both victims in a public restaurant with a heavy wooden chair, knocking one of them unconscious. I commend the victims for their courage and my Office’s prosecutors for ensuring this defendant is held accountable for this horrific attack.”

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NYC: Dallas BBQ Chair-Basher Identified

New York police say they have identified the suspect in an attack earlier this month inside a Manhattan restaurant in which a same-sex couple was bashed over the head with a wooden chair.

According to reports, the NYPD has identified El-Amin Bayna as the “chair-bashing attacker” at the Chelsea location of Dallas BBQ. At this time, however, they have not been able to take him into custody, reports WABC-TV.

From  LGBTQ Nation:

Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said El-Amin “is a career criminal” and that NYPD believes he has fled the state.

The attack on Ethan York-Adams, 25, and Jonathan Snipes, 32, occured May 5 inside the Dallas BBQ restaurant in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, where the victims had gone to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

While 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.

Snipes said he confronted the men at the table when the attacker stood up and escalated the verbal confrontation.

“He turned it into a physical altercation very quickly,” he added.

Witness Isaam Sharef caught the attack on video and posted it to YouTube and Instagram. The video shows Snipes being flung to the floor and kicked as others screamed, “Stop!”

WCBS-TV reports that El-Amin has 15 prior arrests including Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan and New Jersey. Most of the arrests are for assault and drug possession.

Whatever started the fight, it had clearly ended with the couple walking away when Bayna makes his punk move. The chair bashing is disturbingly violent. Watch below.

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Do You Know This Man?

The NYPD is currently looking for this man suspected of beating a gay couple over the head with a chair and kicking them in a BBQ restaurant in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. They’ve released images and footage of the man in the hopes that someone will recognize him.

The victims, Jonathan Snipes, 32, and his boyfriend Ethan York-Adams, 25, were eating and rushed to step outside after Snipes got a text saying there was a death in the family. He accidentally spilled a drink, and says the suspect called them “white faggots.”

Snipes confronted him, and all hell broke loose.

There’s at least one claim out there that the suspect himself is gay, casting into question whether or not the incident was based on sexual orientation. Either way, you don’t bash a guy on the head with a chair and then run out of the building.

Though not initially reported, the NYPD is investigating the incident as a hate crime.