A gay couple who was violently assaulted last month in front of the Norwalk-based LGBTQ bar they own are seeking to have their assailant be charged with a hate crime, but the Norwalk Police Department has yet to define the assault in those terms.
Casey Fitzpatrick and Nicholas Ruiz own Troupe429 in Norwalk. According to the couple, Carmen Everett Parisi entered the bar on Sept. 23 and began harassing female patrons. The bar”™s security attempted to escort Parisi off the premises, but he refused to leave the bar”™s entrance. Fitzpatrick and Ruiz tried to speak with Parisi, but Parisi began making anti-LGBTQ slurs before punched Ruiz repeatedly in the face and then punched Fitzpatrick in the neck, closing his airway with the force of his fist.
Ruiz said he required 50 stitches and $20,000 in plastic surgery to his face. Although Parisi was apprehended, Fitzpatrick and Ruiz reported in a posting on the bar”™s website that he was not charged with any crimes as of Oct. 11. Parisi”™s attorney stated the bar”™s staff attacked him after he was escorted from the venue, but the police investigation of the incident did not support that claim.
The initial police handling of the case became a study in contradictory statements, with Fitzpatrick and Ruiz stating the Norwalk Police Department were given video security footage but made no effort to contact eyewitnesses to the assault and did not give the couple any updates on charging Parisi. The police, in turn, claimed Fitzpatrick and Ruiz failed to show up for appointments to provide statements on what transpired. Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik later said his department “possibly” miscommunicated with the couple.
Since Fitzpatrick and Ruiz complained online about what they considered the police mishandling of the case, Parisi has been charged with two counts of third-degree assault and was granted bail at $200,000. However, the Norwalk Police Department has not charged Parisi with a hate crime.
Lt. Terrence Blake, the Norwalk Police Department”™s public information officer and LGBTQ liaison, issued a statement insisting that despite the report from Fitzpatrick and Ruiz of what preceded the assault, “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 their website, Fitzpatrick and Ruiz acknowledged that while the investigation is still underway, “we remain confident that our statements and any witness accounts will solidify that this assault was motivated by hate.”
Nicholas Ruiz and Casey Fitzpatrick, courtesy of Troupe429.
