D.C. police say they are investigating an attack outside the Dupont Circle Shake Shack as a suspected hate crime.
Shake Shack workers who are accused in the attack were suspended, pending an investigation.
The attack was captured by cellphone video Saturday outside the restaurant. It appears to show several Shake Shack employees beating a customer.
Christian Dingus, the man at the center, says it started inside.
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“We went to the Shake Shack in Dupont, myself and a few friends and my partner, and we were waiting in line. It was like 45 minutes for our food,” Dingus said.
He says he asked where the food was, and the response from an employee was what he described as aggressive. He says his partner pulled him aside. Dingus says it was an effort to try to defuse the situation.
"And then he kissed me, and then another worker came up and said 'Hey, you guys can't do that here,'" Dingus said.
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He says he thought that would be the end of it.
As his partner voiced his disapproval at what had just happened, he says a worker escorted his partner out the side door and "continued a confrontation outside, like against the wall."
Dingus says that’s when he went outside.
He says he stepped 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.”
He says he doesn’t remember how long the beating continued. He does recall someone breaking it up, and seeing a police SUV nearby.
"They didn’t get involved until afterwards,” Dingus said. “I stood up and kind of looked at them like, 'So, what’s going on? What’re we gonna do?'"
They took information from Dingus and from people inside the Shake Shack. No one was arrested.
They asked him if he wanted to go to the hospital, which he eventually did.
A Shake Shack spokesperson sent News4 the following 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. 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. We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation and have suspended the team members involved pending further review. We are committed to taking the appropriate actions based on the findings.”
Dingus says Shake Shack had not reached out to him as of Sunday.
He told NBC News that police took his phone to review the video.
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Late Sunday evening, D.C. police released the police report, which stated they are investigating the attack as a suspected hate crime.
As for Dingus, the bruises are still there, as is the pain — some of it emotional.
“If we were a straight couple, we probably wouldn’t have been broken up for kissing in the back of the restaurant,” he said.
