After attending the Frameline Film Festival opening night party on Friday, Leo Volobrynskyy, 30, walked home after the festivities. En route, he entered a liquor store on Geary and Larkin to buy a bottle of wine. He got more than he bargained for, it seems. According to Volobrynskyy, he witnessed a man being beaten inside the store while "gay slurs" were being hurled at him.
SF Examiner reports:
Volobrynskyy said a man was sitting atop a another man, hitting him, yelling “faggot” and saying, “This is my store, just don’t come here.” The victim was screaming, “Please don’t kill me” and, “Just let me go,” according to Volobrynskyy. He said that while the attack was occurring about three or four men, including the cashier, laughed and cheered.
He then ran out of the store to call police for help. That's when things took a turn for the worse.
“When I realized what was happening, I walked outside the store and called 911,” Volobrynskyy said. Not long after, he saw the victim run from the store. The next thing he knew, the attacker was in his face.“Why did you f---ing call the cops?” the man asked Volobrynskyy. The thug punched him in the face, snatched his cellphone and fled, Volobrynskyy said.
“I lost consciousness for a second,” he said. “I had a mouthful of blood."
When the cops arrived, the group of men, who also laughed on as Volobrynskyy was allegedly being attacked, denied the entire ordeal. The victim had a dentist remove his tooth the following day. And although a police report more or less matches Volobrynskyy's story, "there is nothing in it about inflammatory or derogatory comments," SF Examiner goes on to point out.
“This is actually why we march,” Volobrynskyy said referencing this month's Pride bacchanalia. We should point out that the victim is also a serial Good Samaritan. Read more about it at SF Examiner.