A gay man claimed a group of Shake Shack workers beat him up after he kissed his boyfriend while they waited in line for their order at the fast food establishment in Washington, DC.
Christian Dingus, 28, told NBC News that the violent encounter happened inside the chain’s Dupont Circle location on Saturday night.
After putting in their order, Dingus asked an employee where their food was and said the response he got was “aggressive,” NBC4 reported. He said his partner pulled him aside in an effort to try to defuse the situation. The pair continued to wait in line and began to kiss, Dingus explained.
“And while we were back there — kind of briefly — we began to kiss,” Dingus said. “And at that point, a worker came out to us and said that, you know, you can’t be doing that here, can’t do that type of stuff here.”
The couple stopped kissing, but Dingus said his partner got more upset and told the employee they had done nothing wrong. The employee then escorted his partner outside where the verbal argument escalated.
Dingus said that’s when he followed them outside and ended up stepping in between his partner and the worker in another attempt to defuse the situation.
“At that point, immediately, without a second, the worker just turned on me, starting attacking me,” Dingus said. “At that point, I think there might have been two or three other workers as well, threw me to the ground. I didn’t fight back at all — immediately just kind of went into the fetal position to protect myself.”
Harrowing video of the alleged assault taken by a Shake Shack patron through the window of the restaurant shows a man being shoved and punched in the head by several people wearing Shake Shack shirts.
“There was a desire to be violent towards me, and I think it’s very evident in that film,” Dingus told NBC News.
After the attack, Dingus was taken to the emergency room where he had a concussion and trauma to his jaw, he said. He also had swelling and bruising on his face.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, who has classified the offense alleged by Dingus as a simple assault, with an anti-gay bias motivation. No arrests have been made.
“You hear all the time that this stuff happens, but, you know, I started kind of believing that it didn’t, right?” Dingus said. “I’ve been … thinking of progress and how great that community is here, and then for that all to kind of be shattered, you know, kind of sucks.”
A Shake Shack spokesperson told NBC News that the employees allegedly involved have been suspended pending further review and that the company is cooperating with authorities.
“At Shake Shack, the safety and well-being of our guests and team members are our top priorities, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of violence,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are aware of the incident on Saturday, Aug. 17 involving team members and a guest at our Dupont Circle location and are taking it very seriously.”
