A man is recovering after an attack in the District that police are investigating as a possible hate crime.
Dario Flammer says he was jumped by a group of guys along 14th Street NW just a couple blocks from Logan Circle. He was smoking a cigarette about 1 a.m. Thursday on the sidewalk on 14th Street near N street when he was beaten, knocked out and robbed.
“Initially, I felt a bump on the back of my head, a hard bump, and that knocked me to the ground,” he said. “For a couple of seconds I was disoriented, not conscious, and then another individual took my tie and started pulling on me … and I couldn't breathe, and he literally took the tie and ripped it off my neck.”
Flammer says the attackers shouted homophobic slurs in Spanish.
Flammer plans to take steps to avoid becoming a victim again.
“I'm going to get a license and get a 9mm,” he said. “That's the truth.”
