Second gay bashing
victim tells his story
PHILIPSBURG--Ryan Smith, the second and more seriously injured victim in the beating incident near Sunset Beach Bar on April 6, widely called St. Maarten’s first “gay bashing incident,” has released his first statement since the incident.
Smith said in an interview posted on the Internet that he had been beaten to the point that he sustained brain damage, preventing him from speaking for several months.
He said, “We were all sitting in a bar (Bamboo Bernie’s) talking and Justin (Smith’s male friend) and I gave each other a hug, when a big group of about six or seven locals came in and sat across from us and starting yelling at us and calling us names.”
A bouncer moved them out of harm’s way, but the group persisted. He said, “So we tried to leave when one of the guys picked up a chair and tried to hit Justin with it. Then he threw the chair at me.”
The assailants were thrown out, waited outside in a white car and reportedly tried to run Smith and company over.
“Justin rolled over the hood; I was hit on my side and got knocked over,” he said. They tried to run, but the assailants exited the car, threw objects at them and then caught up with them, at which point Smith said he had tried to defend himself, but had been held in a headlock by one assailant, who then pushed him to the ground and hit him on his head with a tire iron.
A large crowd had gathered by then and many calls reportedly were made to the police. Richard Jefferson, who was also beaten, had reportedly seen the event unfold and ran to his friend Smith’s aid when he was struck.
Smith recalls, “I was sitting on the ground, holding a shirt on my head to stop the bleeding,” he said. “Everyone was saying, ‘You’re not okay,’ and they could see my skull, but I kept saying I was fine. I tried to talk, but it just came out as gibberish and didn’t make sense.”
He was told later that someone had run to a nearby casino and asked for help, at which point two police officers showed up, but no statements were taken and no questions asked.
Smith’s friend reportedly offered information, but the officer said, “There’s no reason. Why would I need to do that?”
They were taken from St. Maarten Medical Center to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami courtesy of CBS. Smith had brain surgery to remove fragments of his skull from his brain and to relieve brain swelling.
Smith said. “A section of my skull was too damaged to fix, so they will have to put in a plate to replace it. That will happen in a couple of months. Until then I have to be very careful not to hit the side of my head, as there is no skull there; it’s just muscle and skin over my brain. I have a helmet I’m supposed to wear. My friends want me to get some stickers and decorate it. I probably will.”
Jefferson underwent head surgery to have a titanium plate implanted.
The Prosecutor’s Office has announced that it has detained five people to date in connection with the incident. One of the detainees is the main suspect “Duracell” of Antigua, who resided in French St. Martin and fled to Guadeloupe to escape detention. He later turned himself in to Dutch authorities, reportedly to avoid being given harsh treatment by French authorities.
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