UPDATE | Doubts surface about alleged anti-gay assault
A gay man with cerebral palsy was attacked, pulled out of his wheelchair and beaten in Midtown late Friday by two men who left behind a hateful note signed by the Modern Day KKK.
Christopher Coleman – a 42-year-old gay Christian, life coach, author and motivational speaker – was injured in the assault and spent the night in Grady Memorial Hospital, according to the AJC. His attackers jumped him from behind about 10:10 p.m. on Friday as he returned home after dinner with a friend in Midtown, according to WSB.
“I heard two guys running up behind me,” Coleman told WSB. “They grabbed me and pulled me out my wheelchair and they began to kick me a couple of times calling me some pretty bad names.”
Coleman told WSB that as he traveled west on 10th Street near the fire station with Piedmont Avenue, the men steered his wheelchair into an alley and then beat him. Before his attackers fled, they left behind a note that contained gay and racial slurs, WSB reported.
“We have not forgotten about you,” the note said.
The attack left Coleman with bruises to his abdomen. He told Atlanta police that he couldn't describe his attackers but their voices sounded familiar, according to an incident report.
The men did not rob Coleman and police said that there were no nearby security cameras that recorded the assault. The Atlanta police incident report did not mention the note that Coleman provided to WSB.
Antony Suarez-Smith, Coleman's assistant, said in a Facebook post that Coleman is recovering from the attack.
“I want you to know that he is doing well and quickly bouncing back as normal for him. He is the only person I know that fights back by giving back. From day to day, I am amazed by what he deals with, and accepts, in order to inspire others,” Suarez-Smith wrote.
