CLEVELAND: Gay Man Attacked By Mob Of 20, Police Investigate As Hate Crime

Cleveland's WKYC reports:

A man walking to a bar on Cleveland's west side overnight Sunday was attacked in what police are calling a hate crime. Jared Fox says he was walking from his car toward Cocktails bar, a well-known gay bar, on West 93rd Street and Detroit Avenue just before midnight Saturday. Fox says a group of 20 young men surrounded him on the sidewalk, using gay slurs. "They didn't know if I had money. They didn't know anything about me," said Fox. "They saw that there was a gay bar at the corner and they saw me walking to it." Then the group attacked Fox, punching him in the face repeatedly and knocking him to the ground. "They said what's in your pockets and I said, I got no money I'm broke, and they said, 'oh so you're one of those broke faggots?' And then they just started swinging," said Fox. He suffered a black eye, a ruptured right ear drum and some hearing loss, as well as dozens of bruises across his body.

Fox has posted a personal account of the attack on YouTube. Scroll over the image below for the play button from WKYC.