Gay couple was beaten and bloodied outside a gay bar in Connecticut

• The couple says the attack amounted to a hate crime, but local police disagree.
• Police arrested a male bar patron, but no charges have been filed against him yet.
• A graphic video shows victim Ruben Ruiz lying on a hospital bed with blood rushing down his body.

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 incident, which occurred in mid-September, resulted in Ruiz being sent to the hospital and requiring over 50 stitches across his face and $20,000’s worth of plastic surgery, Fitzpatrick said in the statement, which was published Tuesday on the bar’s website.

Fitzpatrick said the assault amounted to a hate crime and that the incident is “being mishandled” by the Norwalk Police Department.

“As of October 11, nearly two and a half weeks after the assault, no charges have been filed, nor has the suspect been arrested,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “We are asking for your help and support in seeking justice for Nicholas.”

The Norwalk Police Department announced Wednesday that they arrested the suspect, Carmen Everett Parisi, earlier that day and said in a statement to NBC News that they found no evidence that the assault was fueled by anti-LGBTQ bias.

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“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. “Video footage from the body-worn, on-the-scene body cameras show no findings of any racial, religious, ethnic, or sexual orientation (RRES) language or indication of any anti-LGBTQ motivation associated with the assault.”

On the evening of the attack, a male patron “repeatedly harassed and made several female patrons and our staff uncomfortable,” which prompted staff to “respectfully” escort the man out of the venue, according to Fitzpatrick’s statement.

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.

The man then became violent, repeatedly punching the right side of Ruiz’s face and clawing at his chest, causing his clothes to rip and a necklace to be torn from his neck, Fitzpatrick wrote. The suspect also punched Fitzpatrick in the neck, closing his airway, Fitzpatrick added.

The statement was coupled with a graphic image of Ruiz on the evening of the incident. Ruiz can be seen lying on a hospital bed with his cheek torn open and blood rushing down his body.

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