Early last month on May 6th two gay men were brutally attacked and bashed over the head with a wooden chair during an argument at the Chelsea BBQ restaurant in NYC.  The attack which has been widely characterized as an anti-gay hate crime after video of the incident went viral for the fact that the attacker in question fled the scene.

Gay blogger Waddie G The G-List Society, a black culture and entertainment weblog posted a claim that one of the victims had instigated the fight and that the attacker was a gay man himself and all the outrage had to all do with “white privilege” not the fact that attacker Bayna El-Amin whom the NYPD identified on May 20 who happens to be black is a “career criminal,” with multiple arrests on charges that include forgery and credit card fraud. Not to mention the fact that bashed the couple over the heads with a chair while their backs were turned and walking away from them.

Last night The G-List Society posted an interview with the fugitive at large El-Amin, describing him as an “HIV/AIDS counselor and ballroom community leader.” The opening paragraph is attributed to El-Amin:

“We are fortunate enough to live in a country where all people are protected against crimes based upon their race or sexual orientation. That’s a blessing because everyone in this world doesn’t have that privilege and right. I think that is sad and unfortunate that someone would misuse that right and play this card that they have been gay-bashed or been attacked and then call someone a homophobe. I’m also disappointed in the community, in particular certain members of the LGBT community, who have not done their due diligence to make sure that if someone is saying this – that what they’re saying is true. In particular, that [openly-gay] Councilman [Corey Johnson] in that area who said so many horrible things about me to his constituents. I don’t understand why he would call me a homophobe.”

El-Amin is reportedly staying with at an undisclosed location and is being advised by an attorney while he builds his case of self-defense.

 El-Amin also stated:

“He assaulted me. I was the victim. People don’t realize that. People don’t know that. I was sitting at my table. With no provocation, he came up and hit me. There was no slur thrown at him. There was no bumping into my table and knocking over my drinks. There was no interaction between us in a sense, except for what I said earlier when I said to them, ‘Hey, guys! There are ladies here.’ Then, he came over to me and said, ‘And YOU calling up ladies.’ Then, POW! He definitely made false accusations and tried to put a crime on my that did not happen. I defended myself.”

There are a few major problems with this story.  Other than the fact that Waddie G is defending El-Amin only because he is a person of color and not because of what happened during the incident is also aiding and abetting a fugitive and holding information on his whereabouts back from the police.

1. It’s not self-defense when you hit someone from behind while they are walking away from you, no matter what happened before that. If you were assaulted, call the police.

2, Innocent persons generally don’t hide from the police at undisclosed locations while they “build their case.”

When someone assaults you, you have the right to defend yourself from the attack, however, the right to self-defense evaporates as soon as the attack stops. When the person has turned their back and walked away and is no longer a threat, if you attack, you are no longer the victim. The video provided clearly shows him hitting the other two men over the head with a chair only after it was all broken up and the couple were walking away, backs turned  and not even paying attention to him. This is assault pure and simple.

Watch the video below and decide for yourselves.  WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS DISTURBING CONTENT.