Gay Man Beaten Unconscious by Nightclub Bouncers
Video posted to social media shows security guards at a Houston Hamburger Mary's nightclub severely beating patron.
A video posted to social media shows a gay wedding planner being beaten by bouncers at a Texas nightclub.
Norman Reggi Houston-Pickett claims he was attacked by security guards at a Hamburger Mary’s in Houston on March 4 while out with friends.
He told Houston-based FOX affiliate KRIV that he and some friends were attending an LGBTQ-themed event featuring drag performances on the night in question.
Houston-Pickett claims he and his friends were told they’d have to wait before leaving the club.
While in that holding pattern, he grabbed a bottle of alcohol from the bar and jokingly said he needed a drink for the wait. He then put the bottle down and never took a drink from it.
A short while later, however, a large, well-built man who appeared to be working security at the bar approached him.
“I saw an African American male…really buff with long hair coming at me with two other guys,” Houston-Pickett told KRIV. “The only thing I remember, the words he said were ‘you said something to my sister?’, then he hit me and that’s all I remember.”
Houston-Pickett maintains he was not aggressive or confrontational with the bouncers, and did nothing to provoke them.
“[T]hey came charging with an agenda,” he said.
Video of the altercation that later went viral on social media shows a security guard holding Houston-Pickett in a chokehold from behind, while another guard knocks him unconscious with a single blow.
That guard then punches Houston-Pickett at least 10 more times.
The DJ can be heard at the end of the video asking what is happening and urging the security guards to “chill.”
Houston-Pickett suffered black and bloodied eyes, a concussion, and a broken leg following the incident.
“This is what happens when you take a franchise restaurant and turn it to a nite club and after hours and then hire homophobic security officers,” Houston-Pickett wrote in a Facebook post after being treated for his injuries. “You get jumped for no reason by the people supposedly hired to protect you.”
He added that similar incidents are becoming more common as LGBTQ-themed events and clubs hire outside contractors or bouncers who are overly aggressive.
Houston-Pickett’s attorney, Carl A. Moore, said that Hamburger Mary’s has thus far not responded to his inquiries.
He added that he plans to work with the Houston Police Department and the district attorney’s office to bring criminal and civil charges against the bouncers shown on video assaulting his client, reports the New York Daily News.
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