A gay couple was beaten and bloodied in front of the Connecticut gay bar they own. The two men say the incident was a hate crime, but local authorities disagree.
In a statement shared Tuesday, Casey Fitzpatrick said he and his husband, Nicholas Ruiz — the owners of Troupe429 in Norwalk, Connecticut — were violently assaulted by a male bar patron who also disparaged them with anti-LGBTQ slurs.
"The arrest follows the Police Department’s warrant issued by a judge, after completing investigative steps of reviewing of video footage from inside the bar and attempting to get sworn statements from the two victims," Lt. Terrence Blake, the Norwalk Police Department’s public information officer and LGBTQ liaison, said in a statement Wednesday.
When the man would not leave the bar's entryway, Fitzpatrick said, Ruiz went outside to de-escalate the situation and"peacefully" pleaded with the man to leave the area. The man then made disparaging remarks about the bar and the people inside it using anti-LGBTQ slurs, Fitzpatrick recounted. "As owners of Troupe429, we are thankful that our staff and patrons were unharmed," Fitzpatrick wrote."However, we are deeply broken. The psychological harm that this assault has caused is significant and we demand justice."The Norwalk Police Department and Fitzpatrick confirmed that the police responded to the incident the evening the assault occurred.
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