Michael White in the hospital Photo: Screenshot/TikTok
On June 1, a bisexual 19-year-old from Fort Myers, Florida was almost killed when he was beaten outside of a bar a restaurant by a group of strangers who shouted homophobic slurs at him.
“I think it for sure was a hate crime. I could say just because of the way they were yelling. They had the windows down while they were driving and they were yelling fa***t because I’m bisexual, gay and they don’t agree with it,” the victim, Michael White, told NBC-2.
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White spent the evening at a bar called Pelican Larry’s for his 19th birthday, and the celebration passed without any trouble with other patrons. But then, as he was waiting for his Uber ride home, he was attacked.
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That’s when some people started shouting slurs at him from their dark-colored SUV; White tried to ignore them. But they didn’t stop at slurs. The strangers escalated, getting out of their car and beating White unconscious.
“He was beating me while I’m down, stepping on me, punching me, slamming my face into the concrete repeatedly,” said White.
He only regained consciousness while he was in the ICU. It was there that he learned of his injuries and how close he came to dying.
“I have a brain bleed, multiple fractures in my face, my nose is broken in two different places, and my entire left side of my body is scratched and bruised,” White said. He further emphasized to FOX 4 Now that doctors said he was lucky to be alive.
White is baffled by what happened, as he has no clue who did it or why they would specifically target him.
“I didn’t lay a finger on someone, I didn’t say a thing to anybody, I didn’t instigate anything. I’m pretty sure I don’t even know who this person is.”
His family has organized a GoFundMe page for White to help cover his medical expenses, as he does not have insurance.
Pelican Larry’s gave a statement to FOX 4 Now, stating, “Our whole staff here at Pelican Larry’s feels terrible about what happened to Michael. We take pride in our nightly security team we have here, but unfortunately this event started outside a few 100 feet away from our staff.”
“We do not condone that type of violence perpetrated on anyone for any reason. The staff is very upset.”
White’s mother is shaken by the event, as she had lost her 16-year-old daughter to cancer and was worried she’d lose her son, too.
“I was terrified, fearful, a range of emotions from top to bottom,” she said.
The family is raising awareness of the incident through their TikTok.
‼️HELP‼️ Looking for a homohobic idiot who caused a violent act on my brother on his birthday on June 1st around 2 am at the Pelcian Larrys on University Villegae in fort myers Fl please if you have any information send me a dm This is the sweetest boy who did not deserve to beat because of who he loves🫶🏼 https://gofund.me/af83984a
