A gay man has claimed he was beaten up by multiple Shake Shack employees after he kissed his boyfriend while waiting in line for their food.
Christian Dingus, 28, alleges the violence unfolded at the fast food chain’s Dupont Circle location in Washington DC Saturday night after he tried to ask how much longer they would have to wait for their order, NBC4 reported.
Dingus claims a worker got aggressive when he asked for a timing update and his partner pulled him aside in a bid to diffuse the situation.
“And then he kissed me, and then another worker came up and said ‘Hey, you guys can’t do that here,’ and which at that point when he broke us up I kinda like walked away,” Dingus said.
“I just didn’t want to deal with it.”
His boyfriend, however, stepped in to confront the worker and ended up being escorted out of the restaurant where a verbal fight quickly broke out, according to Dingus.
“And then one of the men, pretty forcefully, like, pushed me out of the way on my shoulder,” Dingus said.
“And then, you know, next thing I know, that kind of just, I think, sparked the rest of them. They all just kind of started attacking me at that point, dragging me back through the floor and continuously punching me in my head.”
Cellphone footage of the alleged ordeal showed at least two Shack Shake workers apparently landing punches on Dingus’ head.
The 30-second clip doesn’t capture the moments leading up to the violence.
“If we were a straight couple, we probably wouldn’t have been broken up for kissing in the back of the restaurant,” Dingus said.
Cops responded to the scene and are currently probing the beating as a possible hate crime, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
No arrests have been made.
Meanwhile, Shake Shake said the staffers involved have been suspended pending an investigation.
“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,” a Shake Shake spokesperson said.
“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.”